MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

alternatively
CD: MDT AmazonUK AmazonUS

Anton BRUCKNER (1824-1896)
Symphony No. 8 in C minor (1890 edition, ed. Nowak) (1887, 1890)
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra/Rafael Kubelik
rec. Herkulessal der Residenz, Munich, 12 May 1977
BR KLASSIK 900703 [78:12]

Experience Classicsonline
The relationship between the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Rafael Kubelik (1914-1996) formed a distinguished part of the orchestra’s history and the conductor’s career. He was principal conductor between 1961 and 1979, but worked for the orchestra many times before that. Their recorded legacy is notable for cycles of the Dvorák and Mahler symphonies, but their work together in the symphonies of Bruckner was important too, as evidenced by the interesting booklet notes that accompany this issue of a live performance from 1977.

The conductor chose to perform to perform the revision of 1890 which represented Bruckner’s final thoughts, rather than the original version of 1887 as listed on the CD details. While the pedantry of Bruckner enthusiasts is well known around the musical world, it really is sloppy in the extreme to make a major blunder like this for what is an important release. Each alternative needs to be considered on its merits, and surely on this occasion the composer’s second thoughts were better than his first. True, if we only had the first version it would still rank as a masterly score. Moreover there is a danger that any listener will become familiar with one performance of one edition, inviting doubts when another is presented. Even so, for this reviewer at least, Bruckner’s 1890 Eighth is as great a symphony as the repertory contains, whereas the earlier version does not quite maintain the tension, build the sonorities and move the spirit to the same extent. So three cheers that what we have here dates from 1890.

Whereas many recordings of this great symphony take up more than a single CD, including the magnificent new version by Christian Thielemann and the Dresden Staatskapelle (Hänssler Profil PH10031), Kubelik’s faster tempi break the 80-minute barrier. But in a good performance, and this is such, the music should make the listener feel that it could not possibly be otherwise. That said, the recorded market-place for Bruckner symphonies is a crowded one and comparisons are inevitable if decisions need to be made.

The cogency of Kubelik’s view is not in doubt. The music is never cheapened by vulgar exaggerations and the symphonic lines are sensitively and eloquently drawn. The orchestral playing too is exemplary, with each section confirming their international credentials. However, the recording is adequate and no more, sounding as though it dated from the later 1950s rather than the 1970s. The performance is not poorly recorded, but there is a lack of space and atmosphere when compared with more recent versions which serve the composer better, conducted by Thielemann (above), Günter Wand with the Berlin Philharmonic (RCA Red Seal 09026 68839 2) or Herbert von Karajan and the Vienna Philharmonic (DG 427 811 2).

Kubelik's was a great conductor and his love of Bruckner’s music is articulated throughout. Above all the sensitivity to the ebb and flow of the longest movement (III), Adagio, is a miracle of its kind. He creates an urgency of emotion that matches that of Wand, with the result that the movement’s great climax replete with cymbals makes an overwhelming impression, as the composer intended it should. However, the scherzo is rather less compelling, since the rich sonorities of the brass-writing makes less impact than the score implies. Overall the intensity of feeling that is central to this music is always there, in the first movement and finale particularly. Listen for example to the climax that releases the death-watch coda of the former. The apocalyptic closing bars of the symphony represent a tour de force of intellectual imagination and organisation, magnificently combining the principal themes of all four movements. While Kubelik makes this sound like a true apotheosis, a broader tempo might have ensured greater clarity and weight.

Terry Barfoot

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools






Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.