February, 2017: Symphony No. 8 (1887) / Gennadi Rozhdestvensky / Bolshoi Theater Orchestra

In the 1980s, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky and the USSR Ministry of Culture Orchestra recorded a cycle of Bruckner symphonies for Melodiya. The project was the most complete cycle ever produced in that it included the two early unnumbered symphonies and differing versions of Symphonies 1, 3, and 4. Oddly, it omitted the early 1887 version of the Symphony No. 8. There is some confusion regarding if the version was actually recorded (in an e-mail from the conductor, he claimed that he did) but no recording has ever surfaced. However, on March 10, 2009, Rozhdestvensky conducted the Bolshoi Theater Orchestra in the 1887 first version. The concert was broadcast by Radio Mayak in Moscow and that performance is available here.