All I know so far is that this beats that Montreal concert I saw in March 2002.

Other than that, I'm beginning to developing a love affair with the Sausage... er... Wiener Philharmoniker.

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Originally posted by Marian Schedenig:
NP: Lord of the Rings Symphony (De Meij)

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Orchestra or wind band version?

First impressions: Super Jewel Cases suck, at least this one does because the lid doesn't stop when opened for 180°, it moves further. Perhaps they handled it poorly, it was the last copy they had (must be selling well) and they'd apparently listened to it, the guy at the store had to put one of the discs back in before he gave it to me. Harnoncourt on the cover looks less scary than he does normally.

First listening impressions: Good, but not the best. Though now that I'm playing it for the third time, I'm liking it more and more. It's slightly on the quicker side, but not very much - a bit more so in the Adagio, but still not so fast as to be annoying. Pretty much my only complaints are a few spots where the interpretation is a bit too jumpy. As I've said before, I think Bruckner is usually best performed slowly, often as slowly as possible without dragging. More important is to not get too carried away and make the music speed up excitedly at "connection points" though. Harnoncourt does this a few times, but not very often...a few instances in the first movement, fewer in the third one. The Scherzo is excellent and I can't say anything negative about it. And except for these minor complaints, the other two regular movements are very good indeed. The VPO are wonderful, and Harnoncourt's balancing lets you hear pretty much everything there is to hear - something rare in Bruckner recordings and also performances, some stuff you never notice until you read the score.

Now for the finale. The only version of it I knew before is the Eichhorn recording of the 92 reconstruction, which I've always enjoyed. In comparison, Harnoncourt's fragments are considerably more "jumpy" (a bit too much for my taste in a few places, excellent in others) - but he also has far more soul. Listening to the Eichhorn again after this made it sound lacking and somewhat boring - I like Eichhorn's slow, broad approach, but something's missing there. And the VPO definitely put the Bruckner Orchester Linz on the Eichhorn disc to shame.

Harnoncourt's explanations are interesting (and the English version also narrated by him is actually really funny ), and thinking about how Bruckner probably nearly finished the movement but important sections later were lost is truly heart-breaking. Here the reconstructed version has the advantage of presenting a complete movement, including a full coda, even though its ending is just a variation of the last bit from the first movement of the 7th (before that, however, comes one of the most beautiful bits Bruckner ever wrote). It also has at least some of that "putting themes atop of each other" Harnoncourt talks about, though I don't hear all he mentions - either the reconstruction is missing some of the themes Bruckner originally put into the score, or I just haven't found them yet.

So what we need now is an excellent recording of a complete version of the symphony with reconstructed finale - probably a new reconstruction at that, because I believe (have to check again) that the harsh dissonances are missing from the 92 reconstruction (Harnoncourt's comparison of the original dissonances with the usual "softened" version is quite amazing). And concerts should finally start to include some sort of finale, as explained in the liner notes.

What we really need though are the missing score sheets. I could cry when I think about what great music is rotting away on attics around the world.

At least I'll have the chance to hear the 9th with the Te Deum in concert next May.

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Originally posted by Marian Schedenig:
So what we need now is an excellent recording of a complete version of the symphony with reconstructed finale - probably a new reconstruction at that, because I believe (have to check again) that the harsh dissonances are missing from the 92 reconstruction (Harnoncourt's comparison of the original dissonances with the usual "softened" version is quite amazing).

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Jumpy is how Harnoncourt's Slavonic Dances strike me as. Not quite to my liking.

Regarding Bruckner/Harnoncourt: I think you're right. I only have that Montreal concert to compare with, but I see what you mean on pretty much all counts.

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Originally posted by Dinko:
Jumpy is how Harnoncourt's Slavonic Dances strike me as. Not quite to my liking.

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I have two versions of those Dances, one with Maazel and I believe the Berlin Philharmonic, which broke into three pieces when it fell from the shelf a few weeks ago. But that's not a problem because it wasn't very good, and the other one I have is the Kubelik, which sounds pretty much unmatchable anyway.

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Regarding Bruckner/Harnoncourt: I think you're right. I only have that Montreal concert to compare with, but I see what you mean on pretty much all counts.

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"Jumpiness" is a difficult thing with Bruckner. Because in my opinion, most "normal" conducting styles make him sound jumpy. The best description I've found so far for what I think a Bruckner performance needs is in thiese liner notes: "architectural". The lengths of the measures must be similar, in a way. And the pauses must be there (most of the time they are with Harnoncourt) - many conductors tend to speed up and jump over the pauses.

But as I said, generally this is very good, quite excellent perhaps, and I'm playing it again already. And sound-wise, this is how all Bruckner recordings should sound. Unfortunately, even most live performances (heard live in concert I mean) sound far less clear than this.

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There is a version coming out soon with the Westphalia Symphony or something like that. Based on the catalog number (8555933-34) it looks like a Naxos. That one I think includes a reconstructed finale and the rest of the symphony. But I don't know if it's a new reconstructed finale, or a new recording of the one you already have.

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Regarding the Harnoncourt, I like it better every time I play it. It probably IS one of the best, but I have yet to compare it to the others I have. Definitely recommended in any case.

The Harnoncourt is much faster than the Celibidache of course (as probably all available recordings are), and like most versions it feels too fast. Even more too fast than many others. Aside from that, it's very nice in many parts, but there are several annoyances sprinkled through it. The wonderful coda of the first movement sounds awfully hurried and lacks all the grandeur it should have. There are some really good bits, the Scherzo is fine and the crescendo before the Wagner lament section in the Adagio is amazing - but I prefer the (later?) version of the symphony which has a timpani after that crescendo, and this isn't it.

Not a bad recording, there must be far worse, but not really worth bothering. Get the Celibidache and be happy.

They also have Harnoncourt's recording of the 3rd (with the Concertgebouw Orchestra) for the same price at that store. Can't say I'm too interested in that now though, particularly since I hardly ever listen to the revised 3rd anyway, preferring the rarely-recorded original version.

Still, I'm looking forward to new Harnoncourt Bruckner. His 9th is really excellent, and I'd like to see him do the 5th or 6th with the VPO now.