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Oh Boy! ANOTHER Bruckner Thread - Time to 'fess up: what's your LEAST favorite Bruckner Symphony?

73.222.105.47
Posted on January 25, 2016 at 08:57:35
Chris from Lafayette
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 For me there's no question: it's the Third - in any or all of its incarnations. What really clinches it for me is that stupid unison theme in the last movement - any composer worth his salt would have thrown that simple-minded episode as far away as possible, and, given Bruckner's tendency to make wholesale cuts in his revisions, I can't believe he didn't jettison it:



Certainly not one of Bruckner's happier inspirations! ;-)

I do give Bruckner credit for retaining that absurd slow polka ("happy peasants") in the same movement - You can't say he wasn't droll sometimes!

BTW, sorry! - this is the Schalk piano reduction of that unison spot I'm showing above, and I think he got his mitts into some of the dynamics - LOL!

 

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RE: Sorry, none of the above. nt, posted on January 25, 2016 at 12:10:29
Travis
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 .


"If people don't want to come, nothing will stop them" - Sol Hurok

 

Wow - even Szell said that Bruckner was a "very imperfect composer" [nt], posted on January 25, 2016 at 13:25:08
Chris from Lafayette
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Wasted time, posted on January 25, 2016 at 13:50:31
Amphissa
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I don't really care to listen to anything he wrote prior to the 7th. All of the earlier ones are wasted time so far as *MY* time is concerned.

Which is why I don't want any more box sets.


"Life without music is a mistake" (Nietzsche)

 

Interesting - I actually prefer the Fifth and the Sixth to the Seventh [nt], posted on January 25, 2016 at 13:53:02
Chris from Lafayette
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The worst one is any of the ones I haven't heard yet, posted on January 25, 2016 at 14:38:57
pbarach
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 I love Mahler, and long pieces of music aren't an issue for me. But it takes me forever to connect with Bruckner. I have to read while listening to it so it kinds of soaks in. After I've done that a number opf times, then I can listen to it with full attention. So far, that's 5-7-8-9.

 

All of them?, posted on January 25, 2016 at 16:34:26
TGR
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 Well, I don't mean it, but I have had my issues with Bruckner. Actually, I really like what Szell does with the 3rd so it wouldn't be that one. I also enjoy the 4th, 6th, 7th and 8th. The 9th makes sense to me only when played with a completed 4th movement. I believe the answer is the 5th....the last movement seems to me to be the most egregious example of empty note spinning ever composed by a composer with a major reputation. Believe me, I have tried to get into this piece, starting back in the early 70s when I received Haitink's recording from the International Preview Society.

 

Wow! That last movement of the Fifth is one of my absolute favorites! ;-), posted on January 25, 2016 at 16:51:59
Chris from Lafayette
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 For me, it's one of the few instances in his symphonic output where the long-term momentum really sustains itself (that long developmental fugue in the middle is magnificent IMHO) - in contrast to the often start-and-stop nature of much of his other symphonic writing.

 

I've sometimes used that same method to connect with unfamiliar music [nt] ;-), posted on January 25, 2016 at 16:54:04
Chris from Lafayette
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Symphony 0., posted on January 25, 2016 at 19:31:36
gd
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 Lives up to its numeric potential. Actually I am not sure I have heard One, I think I heard Two just to see which one Wagner might have liked, Two or Three.

I am not sure I am the Bruckner fan I once was. as for Three, in the old days I loved it for its simplicity, I don't remember any problem with the last movement, I still love the slow movement. As for the last movement of the Fifth, I've never liked it, to much circus music. So, some horses saying I guess.

Have you heard Furtwangler's recording of the the Sixth? Years ago the board was basically a Furtwangler love in, but cooler heads have prevailed, so he is not reverentially intoned for all things Bruckner - or all things...... Only mov 2, 3 & 4 exist, but it is vastly better than any other I know. It places Six on another level. He plays right through the circus/bird theme that used to stop me in my Haitink recording.


Gregg

 

Actually, Szell sold me on the 3rd. I don't get the 6th. The slow mov't of Bruckner's 8th earns him his spot, posted on January 25, 2016 at 22:05:20
jdaniel@jps.net
 on Mt Apollo, IMHO>

 

I'm not the Bruckner fan I once was either, posted on January 25, 2016 at 22:12:33
Chris from Lafayette
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 I'm always surprised when I hear Symphony 0 though - for an early work, it's somehow more accomplished than I expect it to be. It's in the Skrowaczewski set, and I used to have the Haitink/Concertgebouw performance on LP. But maybe you're right - offhand, I can't recall a single theme from the work right now!

I've never heard the Furtwangler performance of three-fourths of the Sixth - I'm one of those folks who considers stereo an absolute minimum for Bruckner - better yet, multi-channel (the better to clean out those thick textures!). I have Blomstedt/LGO for my multi-channel fix of the Sixth, and the Haitink recording of this work was my imprint version. I also have the two East German Heinzes in this work: Heinz Rogner with the Berlin Radio SO and Heinz Bongartz with the LGO - which used to be available as a cheapie Philips "World Series" recording in the LP days.

 

You mean Mount Olympus? ;-), posted on January 25, 2016 at 22:19:42
Chris from Lafayette
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 That Sixth Symphony has that interesting hint of the Phrygian mode in the very opening theme - I usually don't think of Bruckner's symphonic writing in connection with modality, and the opening of the Sixth is about the only example I can think of right now.

 

RE: I'm not the Bruckner fan I once was either, posted on January 26, 2016 at 04:33:01
gd
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 Wow, I always keep my eyes open for Bruckner LPs and I've never seen that. Skrowaczewski Sixth is good, I'd be happy with that. I am happy with that. I grew up with Haitink, I still love aspects of the performances, but miss the brass. I think the brass is brought up more i the CD reissues (when I hear them on the radio). In my system the one comparison I did of the forth did not show much difference.

Gregg

 

My Bruckner hierarchy comes in three tiers..., posted on January 26, 2016 at 08:53:22
krisjan
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 Tier 1 (I consider these my desert island choices):
Sym 8 (top of the heap for me - majestic and powerful!)
Sym 5 (not far from the top)
Sym 9 (wish this had a fully completed final movement by Bruckner)
Sym 6 (not on most folk's top tier but I really love this work)

Tier 2 (enjoy these a lot):
Sym 7
Sym 4
Sym 3

Tier 3 (meh - my least favorite and could easily live without them)
Sym 2
Sym 1
Sym 0
Sym 00

 

Now That's More Like It, posted on January 26, 2016 at 09:33:42
Mike Porper
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 This is a good first step. Starting with mild dislike. That's inspired others to post greater dislike.

That should continue.

I'm hoping to reach the point where no further posts about Bruckner appear, and he's only mentioned rarely; and then only in passing, cryptically, much the way Reger is treated. After that, the Reznicek oblivion.

 

RE: Oh Boy! ANOTHER Bruckner Thread - Time to 'fess up: what's your LEAST favorite Bruckner Symphony?, posted on January 26, 2016 at 16:00:30
Ivan303
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 "New York (AFP) - Daniel Barenboim will return to Carnegie Hall to conduct a rare cycle of all of Anton Bruckner's numbered symphonies, the leading New York concert venue said Tuesday."


Link below:



First they came for the dumb-asses
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a dumb-ass

 

RE: Oh Boy! ANOTHER Bruckner Thread - Time to 'fess up: what's your LEAST favorite Bruckner Symphony?, posted on January 26, 2016 at 19:21:28
ahendler
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 I assume the concerts will be recorded. I have heard some of Bareboim's Bruckner and always liked it.
Alan

 

RE: Oh Boy! ANOTHER Bruckner Thread - Time to 'fess up: what's your LEAST favorite Bruckner Symphony?, posted on January 26, 2016 at 20:07:01
Ivan303
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In the queue.

Queue is getting ridiculous.


First they came for the dumb-asses
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a dumb-ass

 

don't have just ONE., posted on January 27, 2016 at 03:09:54
Timbo in Oz
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 Gave up a long time ago.

Way too long.


Warmest

Tim Bailey

Skeptical Measurer & Audio Scrounger


 

The trick to dealing with Bruckner, posted on January 27, 2016 at 10:30:31
gd
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 Since Bruckner repeats EVERYTHING you can cut the repeats and streamline the works with no loss of content. At half of the original running time they breeze past some of those dense lugubrious Haydn Symphony timings. Just like little orchestral bon-bons!

GD

 

Don't think I am going to bother though, posted on January 29, 2016 at 01:38:05
Timbo in Oz
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 eh?

;-)
Warmest

Tim Bailey

Skeptical Measurer & Audio Scrounger


 

Agreed: Symphony 0. Then probably 3., posted on January 29, 2016 at 18:07:05
classfolkphile
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 nt

 

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