Wiener Philharmoniker - Complete Symphonies - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The ultimate for the Bruckner anniversary and for every lover of symphonic music. This is the first Bruckner symphony cycle recorded by the Vienna Philharmonic with Christian Thielemann. Along with the 9 symphonies, this edition also includes two lesser known symphonies and two alternative versions of movements by the composer himself.

For a long time Johannes Brahms was considered the epitome of conservatism, who, contrary to the disciples of Wagner and Liszt, fell back on old forms, which allegedly had no power anymore. Indeed, Brahms was an expert on music of the past, going back till the polyphonic composers of the 16th century. He made use of old patterns such as the variation and the interrelated passacaglia. He adopted the traditional four-movement symphony and it's juxtaposition, respected the pattern of the sonata form and did hardly go beyond Beethoven when it came to instrumentation. However, the perception of Brahms as a InchreactionaryInch, as it was initially argued by Nietzsche and later by the circle of Wagner and Richard Strauss, is unsustainable. No one less than Arnold Schoenberg has recognized the fundamentally different, which divided the composer Brahms, particularly as composer of symphonies, from the masters of the classical sonata and symphony in his famous paper InchBrahms, der FortschrittlicheInch (Brahms the progressive)

Sound and space are mutually dependent. Which works sound best in which environment? Where can the spirit and character of the music most clearly be expressed? These questions are what inspired the conductor Gerd Schaller to embark on an ambitious major project in 2007 in the impressive environment of the abbey church that once formed part of Ebrach's Cistercian monastery in Franconia, he directed his festival orchestra, the Philharmonie Festiva, in recordings of all of Anton Bruckner's symphonies. Nearly all the recordings were made during concerts in the cathedral acoustics of Ebrach's abbey church. The location Schaller chose for the recordings of the F minor Symphony, the early D minor Symphony and the Fourth Symphony with it's InchVolksfestInch (fair) finale is the Regentenbau building in Bad Kissingen, which likewise has outstanding acoustics. To crown the previous Bruckner cycle, the unfinished Ninth has been recorded with Gerd Schaller's own recreation of the final movement. What is special about this Bruckner cycle is that Schaller in some cases selected less well-known, InchinterimInch versions or variants that had previously never been performed but give revealing insights into Bruckner's compositional approach. Featured for the first time ever in this CD edition are Bruckner's Third in it's first revised form of 1874 and his Eighth in the interim version of 1888. The cycle of symphonies is supplemented by the F minor Mass, the rarely performed Psalm 146 and his organ works as well as Gerd Schaller's organ transcription of the 9th symphony, which he recorded on the Eisenbarth organ of the former Ebrach abbey church.