The Playlist - American Orchestras
While no recording of the Symphony in F Minor exists with an American orchestra, we do have a recording of the rarely performed Four Orchestral Pieces which, like the early symphony, were student exercise pieces. Overture in G Minor: William Steinberg / Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra This nice performance has an unusual history. It was actually the first commercially released stereo recording of the overture and it appeared on a Command Classics LP set with the Symphony No. 7. For some reason, the Schwann Catalog, the classical LP bible at the time of its release, never mentioned that the Overture was included on the LP. Also, when the Symphony was issued on CD, the Overture didn't fit. It has never been officially transferred to CD. Symphony No. 1: Leon Botstein / American Symphony Orchestra Leon Botstein is a recent recipient of the Bruckner Society's Medal of Honor. He was recognized for his long-standing advocacy for the music of Bruckner. With his American Symphony Orchestra, he is quickly working his way through all of the Bruckner symphonies and they are all available for download. Symphony in d "Die Nullte": Mario Venzago / Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra Mario Venzago is currently producing a complete Bruckner cycle for CPO. But during his tenure as Music Director of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, he presented numerous Bruckner symphonies for concertgoers. This particular performance was offered as part of the ISO's national syndicated radio series. Symphony No. 2: Stanislaw Skrowaczewski / Minnesota Orchestra Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, now approaching his 90th birthday has long been a champion of Bruckner's music. His very complete cycle for Oehms Classics has received universal praise. Skrowaczewski's association with the Minnesota Orchestra has been long and fruitful. It is where he chose to receive his Bruckner Society Medal of Honor. This performance of the Symphony No. 2 comes from the orchestra's national radio syndication. Symphony No. 3: Herbert Blomstedt / San Francisco Symphony Orchestra Herbert Blomstedt has recently completed his recorded cycle of Bruckner symphonies with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, but as Music Director and frequent guest conductor of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, he has presented numerous Bruckner symphonies to West Coast audiences. This performance of the 1873 version originates from the orchestra's national radio syndication. Symphony No. 4: Franz Welser Moest / Cleveland Orchestra (Blu-Ray) Franz Welser-Moest has made Bruckner his trademark with the Cleveland Orchestra and he received a Bruckner Society Medal of Honor during his New York Bruckner Festival. Over the past few years, he has been recording the Bruckner symphonies for video at both Severence Hall in Cleveland and in Europe. This beautiful production, incorporating the 1888 Korstvedt edition, was filmed last year at St. Florian. Symphony No. 5: Takashi Asahina / Chicago Symphony Orchestra (DVD) The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is well represented on disc with Bruckner recordings (two complete cycles with Barenboim and Solti), but for our purposes we decided on a Japanese DVD which present Takashi Asahina in a rare performance outside of Japan. Symphony No. 6: Leonard Bernstein / New York Philharmonic Leonard Bernstein was not a great promoter of Bruckner's music. From his own statements and performances, it is clear that Bernstein had a stronger affinity to the emotional aspects of Mahler's symphonies. Bruckner's unique lack of personal emotion seemed to puzzle Bernstein. The one Bruckner symphony that Bernstein could identify with was the Ninth and he recorded it twice. For our purposes, we are going to play his performance of the Symphony No. 6 which has only been released in the orchestra's Leonard Bernstein boxed set. Symphony No. 7: Klaus Tennstedt / Boston Symphony Orchestra (DVD) Klaus Tennstedt was a conductor who came onto the international stage late in life. His credentials as a Bruckner conductor became immediately known and he was asked to guest conduct with many orchestras. Recently, ICA Classics has given us a video (pulled from WGBH's archives) of Tennstedt performing with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Symphony No. 8: Zubin Mehta / Los Angeles Philharmonic Zubin Mehta's LA Philharmonic recordings of the Bruckner 8th and 9th Symphonies were always highly regarded, but we had to wait a long time for his recording of the Symphony No. 8 to be transferred to CD. That finally happened when Decca/London released a special boxed set. Symphony No. 9: Hans Graf / Houston Symphony (with Finale sketches) The Houston Symphony Orchestra has a solid reputation as a Bruckner orchestra. Past music directors, Christoph Eschenbach and Hans Graf have both been strong advocates of Bruckner's music. For our purposes, we will be using two separate performances of the Symphony No. 9 by Hans Graf. We will be playing a performance of the first three movements from a 2012 concert given at Houston's Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart and the Finale sketches from a 2002 concert given in Jones Hall. |
