Bruckner - Mass 3 in F minor - SUPER-AUDIO CD [Super Audio CD (SACD)]

Thomas Zehetmaier gets off to a fantastic start with Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 3, the work marking his discographic debut as the principal conductor of the Musikkollegium Winterthur. This prizewinning, richly traditional Swiss orchestra once again offers a compelling performance enhanced by agile flexibility of chamber character. The overwhelming acoustics of the Winterthur Town Church contribute their share to the magnificent Bruckner sound, which here has been perfectly captured in three-dimensional 2+2+2 recording technology and released on a high resolution Super Audio album. Bruckner's insecurity about his own works is legendary. He repeatedly submitted his symphonies to radical revisions- often because of a few critical remarks. In any event, the InchThirdInch was a genuine disaster when it was premiered; the orchestra's musicians are even said to have left the stage during the performance. Perhaps the absolutely servile accumulation of quotations from Wagner was then somewhat too much of a good thing. As a consequence, Bruckner eliminated all the excessive Tristan and Ring baggage, and the result was a work of appealing design. What causes difficulty for many a gigantic orchestra is easy for the Winterthur musicians the realization of Bruckner's original tempo relations represents a genuine challenge. The syncopated unison passages in the finale assume brute force in the prescribed Allegro that normally would have been beyond the reach of a trim orchestral ensemble. It has been a long time since Bruckner sounded so fresh!

Dedicated to Ludwig II of Bavaria, Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 7 in E major brought Bruckner the greatest success he had known in his life. The symphony is sometimes referred to as the InchLyric,Inch though the appellation is not the composer's own, and is seldom used. The present is part of the world's first major Bruckner cycle from his home of St. Florian, with the Altomonte Orchestra under Remy Ballot. Since 2013, the award-winning ensemble has recorded Bruckner's Third, Eighth, Ninth, Sixth, Fifth, and now Seventh symphonies. The InchGramola Bruckner Days SetInch is already half full! The Altomonte Festival Orchestra was founded in 1996, the 100th anniversary of Bruckner's death, by the legendary church musician Augustinus Franz Dropfreiter and the cellist Thomas Wall. It counts among it's members several of the highest-ranking musicians from the leading orchestras of Europe, together with some of the most outstanding of today's emerging young players. The name of the orchestra is taken from the18th Century father-and-son painters Martino and Barholomeo Altomonte, who adorned the magnificent rooms of the St. Florian Monastery with their beautiful, large-scale frescoes. Matthias Giessen has led the orchestra since 2003. From 2013, Rémy Ballot has conducted the orchestra, achieving widespread acclaim with his Bruckner interpretations.

Anyone familiar with Bruckner, his symphonic architectures reaching for the stars as well as his later Missas from the 1860s, may well be amazed at how deep his Missa Solemnis is still rooted in the solid tradition of Viennese Classicism. In this recording, this rarely heard and recently re-edited and newly published gem is put into the context of the inauguration service of collegiate provost Friedrich Mayr on 14 September 1854 in St. Florian, for which it was written. It is interspersed with the original Proper settings by Robert Fuhrer, Joseph Eybler, and Johann Baptist Gansbacher. This brilliantly mastered album was recorded at the Konzerthaus Berlin in June 2017 as a coproduction with Deutschlandfunk Kultur.