Herbert Blomstedt - Bruckner: The Complete Symphonies (2012) [9CD Box Set]

Of the nineteenth century’s great symphonists, perhaps the most unexpected was Anton Bruckner. Bruckner, a humble, provincial Austrian, was known in his lifetime as much for his social awkwardness and compositional insecurity as for his devout Christian faith and his abilities as one of the era’s greatest organists. And yet, between 1864 and his death in 1896, he wrote and copiously revised eight numbered symphonies and left an incomplete, monumental Ninth. The Bruckner symphonies stand as some of the most beautiful, mystical, idiosyncratic, and just plain weird entries in the genre, and, though some of them turn up on concert programs more often than others, the complete set has received the attention of a relatively small number of conductors. One of those conductors is Herbert Blomstedt, who celebrated his 85th birthday this past July; in celebration of that milestone, the Querstand label has released Blomstedt’s first complete Bruckner cycle, recorded during live concerts given with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig between 2005 and 2011.
Eighty-five years is a long time to wait for any symphony cycle, but in this case, it was worth every second. Blomstedt’s Bruckner is ultimately heroic, but it also takes the music’s quirks—the odd phrases, the rhythmic dissonance, the striking instrumental combinations—seriously. The result, which is played to the hilt here by an orchestra that’s clearly inspired by their conductor, is bracingly fresh and modern.


Tracks:

Sinfonie Nr. 1 C-Moll

Sinfonie Nr. 2 C-Moll

Sinfonie Nr. 3 D-Moll

Sinfonie Nr. 4 Es-Dur

Sinfonie Nr. 5 B-Dur

Sinfonie Nr. 6 A-Dur

Sinfonie Nr. 7 E-Dur

Sinfonie Nr. 8 C-Moll

Sinfonie Nr. 9 D-Moll

Personnel:

Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
Herbert Blomstedt