Gerd Schaller - Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 3 in D Minor - Version 1873 & Adagio 1876 - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Amid the flood of Bruckner recordings of recent years, Gerd Schaller brings to the table engrossing new editions by William Carragan. These editions were published based on the scholarship lately presented by the International Bruckner Society and presented with historical concern and dazzling musicianship. The disc also includes the first-ever recording of Carragan's edition of the 1874 revision of Symphony No. 3. Fine and sensitive playing from the Philharmonie Festiva renders Bruckner's majestic and mystical works even more lovely.

This 2 CD album issued by Naxos features both the 1877 version (with the scherzo coda) and the 1889 version. Also included is an intermediate 1876 revision of the second (adagio) movement that underwent further revision in 1877. Both versions are performed by orchestras today, but many prefer the 1877 version as being closer to what Bruckner really intended as opposed to what he thought would more likely be performed. (The original 1873 version was recorded by Georg Tintner and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. On these recordings, the 1877 version is almost 10 minutes longer than the 1889 version. That's partly the result of the Westphalian orchestra taking slightly faster tempos in performing the 1889 version, but mostly it represents substantial cuts to the 1877 version. The first movement is over 3 minutes shorter, with cuts mainly in the development and the coda but leaving the overall structure unchanged. The 1876 version of the adagio is in ABABA form, but the middle A section was cut in 1877, resulting in an ABA form with a long and repetitious B section. In 1889, the B section was reduced to eliminate some of the repetition. The only changes to the scherzo were the elimination of the coda and the addition of a few bars. The finale underwent the greatest amount of change. The 1877 version is in a sort of sonata-rondo form ABCAXABC-coda, where X is a development section and the coda is based on A and the first theme of the first movement, but the 1889 version shortens X, cuts out the A that follows it (thus resembling the finale of Brahms' First), drops most of the second C, and largely recomposes and shortens the coda. The A theme, a bold statement in the brass, is impressive!

Gerd Schaller - Symphonies 4 &7 & 9 [COMPACT DISCS] Boxed Set date 08/30/2011