Composer: Anton Bruckner
Orchestra: Bruckner Orchestra Linz
Conductor: Markus Poschner
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Capriccio
Catalogue: C8087
Release: 2023
Size: 1.33 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
Symphony No. 8 in C minor, WAB 108 (1887 version)
01. I. Allegro moderato
02. II. Scherzo. Allegro moderato – Trio. Langsam
03. III. Adagio. Feierlich langsam, doch nicht schleppend
04. IV. Finale. Feierlich, nicht schnell
Was it because conductors were sufficiently satisfied with Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony as it stood, or was it down to editorial foot-dragging that the work’s original 1887 version wasn’t published and performed until 1972? It was certainly Hermann Levi’s dissatisfaction or at least bewilderment with the work, so shortly after his very successful Munich performance of the Seventh, that made Bruckner revise the symphony in the first place. It is this elaborate, raw earlier version that Markus Poschner performs here, in the latest edition by Paul Hawkshaw for the New Anton Bruckner Complete Edition. More ornate, brassier and with more economically employed woodwinds, this version doesn’t smooth the edges or round out the corners, providing an interesting insight into an emboldened Bruckner at his unadulterated self.