Symphony No. 2 In C Minor: Scherzo. Massig schnell
Symphony No. 2 In C Minor: Finale. Mehr schnell
Track Listings (4) - Disc #3
Symphony No. 3 In D Minor: Mehr langsam, Misterioso
Symphony No. 3 In D Minor: Adagio, bewegt, quasi, Andante
Symphony No. 3 In D Minor: Ziemlich schnell
Symphony No. 3 In D Minor: Allegro
Track Listings (4) - Disc #4
Symphony No. 4 in E flat major 'Romantic': Bewegt, nicht zu schnell
Symphony No. 4 in E flat major 'Romantic': Andante quasi Allegretto
Symphony No. 4 in E flat major 'Romantic': Scherzo. Bewegt
Symphony No. 4 in E flat major 'Romantic': Finale. Bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell
Track Listings (4) - Disc #5
Symphony No. 5 In B Flat Major: Introduction. Adagio - Allegro
Symphony No. 5 In B Flat Major: Adagio. Sehr langsam
Symphony No. 5 In B Flat Major: Scherzo. Molto vivace (Schnell)
Symphony No. 5 In B Flat Major: Finale. Adagio - Allegro moderato
Track Listings (4) - Disc #6
Symphony No. 6 In A Major: Maestoso
Symphony No. 6 In A Major: Adagio. Sehr feierlich
Symphony No. 6 In A Major: Scherzo. Nicht schnell
Symphony No. 6 In A Major: Finale. Bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell
Track Listings (4) - Disc #7
Symphony No. 8 In C Minor: Allegro moderato
Symphony No. 8 In C Minor: Scherzo. Allegro moderato
Symphony No. 8 In C Minor: Adagio. Feierlich langsam; doch nicht schleppend
Symphony No. 8 In C Minor: Finale. Feierlich, nicht schnell
Track Listings (4) - Disc #8
Symphony No. 7 In E Major: Allegro moderato
Symphony No. 7 In E Major: Scherzo. Allegro moderato
Symphony No. 7 In E Major: Scherzo. Sehr schnell
Symphony No. 7 In E Major: Finale. Bewegt, doch nicht schnell
Track Listings (3) - Disc #9
Symphony No.9 In D Minor: Feierlich, misterioso - Anton Bruckner
Symphony No.9 In D Minor: Scherzo. Bewegt, lebhaft - Anton Bruckner
Symphony No.9 In D Minor: Adagio. Langsam, feierlich - Anton Bruckner
Eugen Jochum was the ultimate Bruckner conductor. He recorded the complete symphonies twice, once on DG and once for EMI (with the Staatskapelle Dresden). Both sets are thoroughly recommended, but this first one has alw... more »ays had a special place in the hearts of collectors, if only for nostalgic reasons. It was the first complete cycle, and although it was later overshadowed by Herbert von Karajan's highly publicized recordings for the same label, it's interesting to note that Jochum is still in print (for now), while Karajan is not. Jochum brought to Bruckner's music a human warmth and lyricism that only served to highlight the music's spiritual qualities. He preferred flexible speeds that never dragged, and the result is a uniquely complete and exciting view of the composer: in short, a musical testament. --David Hurwitz« less
Eugen Jochum was the ultimate Bruckner conductor. He recorded the complete symphonies twice, once on DG and once for EMI (with the Staatskapelle Dresden). Both sets are thoroughly recommended, but this first one has always had a special place in the hearts of collectors, if only for nostalgic reasons. It was the first complete cycle, and although it was later overshadowed by Herbert von Karajan's highly publicized recordings for the same label, it's interesting to note that Jochum is still in print (for now), while Karajan is not. Jochum brought to Bruckner's music a human warmth and lyricism that only served to highlight the music's spiritual qualities. He preferred flexible speeds that never dragged, and the result is a uniquely complete and exciting view of the composer: in short, a musical testament. --David Hurwitz
"This set is rightly regarded as a classic. Jochum's approach to Bruckner is uniquely refreshing compared to much of what we hear today -- dragging and monotonous tempi under the guise of a "monumental" approach. Jochum's tempi are flexible and rarely drag. He stresses the lyrical aspects of Bruckner's symphonies, without ever losing sight of their architecture. Jochum's approach to orchestral sonority in Bruckner is also special. Like Bruckner, he started out as an organist, and he understands Bruckner's (often unique) musical markings from an organist's perspective. He draws wonderfully sonorous sounds out of the Berlin Philharmonic and Bavarian Radio Symphony strings without ever sacrificing linear clarity. The set comes with reasonably good notes, the high point of which is an abridged version of Jochum's article on interpreting Bruckner, primarily centering on the 5th Symphony, in which Jochum was famous. (He left us 3 studio recordings and 2 recorded live performances of this work.) The only drawback is that Jochum uses the 1889 version of the 3rd Symphony, which is that work's weakest version. However, I would whole-heartedly recommend this set, supplemented by a recording of the 1873 version of the 3rd (such as that conducted by Georg Tintner on Naxos, to be issued in 1999)."
Bruckner by Jochum -- best set for classic Bruckner values
Larry VanDeSande | Mason, Michigan United States | 08/28/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The passage of time has hardly depreciated this set of Bruckner symphonies, recorded during the late 1950s and 1960s, which has been reissued at full price (see ASIN: B00006YXOX). Jochum is a reliable guide through the peaks and valleys of Anton Bruckner and has influenced many later Bruckner conductors including Petri Sakari.
We does this with a magical approach to the composer's granitic music; unpredicatable and always appropriate is the way to describe Eugen Jochum's Bruckner.
Unlike Gunther Wand, he does not always project Bruckner's beloved Alps in this music. Unlike Georg Solti, he senses the inate beauty and religious fervor of the music. Unlike Georg Tintner, he does not concern himself with scores, even though Jochum was a close friend of a Bruckner annotator.
Unlike Karajan, he is not wedded to a traditional German approach to the symphonic edifices. Only Furtwangler, in recordings that stress the 21st Century ear, compares to Jochum as a Bruckner interpreter.
Jochum recorded the complete symphonies of Bruckner again later in life. While Jochum's second set on EMI enjoys better sound and a better Symphony 8, the playing is inferior and the overall concept less well defined. The early German set is the one to live with.
In the four decades since he recorded these titanic symphonies, no record, tape or CD has equalled the majesty and mystery Jochum finds in the Symphonies 1 and 2. An unerring sense of pace, anticipation and freed musical pulse characterize these early symphonies, which are often not well served by even the greatest conductors.
Few conductors sense the Bruckner architecture Jochum constructs in Symphonies 6 and 8. And since Furtwangler's death in 1954, no conductor has compared to the universal truths he projects in Symphony 5, a Jochum specialty that he recorded a half-dozen times.
What makes Jochum special? While many conductors turn Bruckner's symphonic ascensions into repetitive blather, Jochum always finds something new to say in repeating phrases, not unlike the drawers of a cabinet, each appearing exactly the same outside but containing something very different on the inside.
There have been two fine low-priced sets of Bruckner symphonies in recent years, those conducted by the late Georg Tintner and the one conducted by Stanislaw Skrowaczewski. The Tintner version enjoys special status with many critics because it uses a newer edition of the score by William Carragan, who has written extensively about the composer in American Record Guide.
Even with competition like this in sterling DDD sound, the Jochum set on DG remains your top choice in this wonderful music about birth, life, travails, death and afterlife. If you are dedicated to acquiring a uniform set of Bruckner symphonies and you find the sound of Furtwangler's 1950s recordings inadequate, you will never hear better than Jochum in this set (it has returned to circulation: ASIN: B00006YXOX.)"
A wonderful set
Ray Barnes | Surrey, British Columbia Canada | 03/23/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I concur wholeheartedly with the first reviewer's very favourable comments about this cycle, and would like to add a few personal observations of my own. Both the Berlin Philharmonic and Bavarian Radio Symphony played very well for Jochum and I could not make a clear choice as to which of the two was better. That in itself says much for the Bav. RSO, who also had the benefit of recording in the Herkulesaal in Munich. At around the same time Rafael Kubelik recorded a complete Mahler symphony cycle with the same orchestra and venue, for the same company too. Almost unbelievably, the 5th Symphony was recorded in 1958, in very early stereo, yet the sound is rich and atmospheric. Jochum allows himself free variation of tempo within a movement and given the composer's rather heavy style of writing, this interpretative approach gives the performances a bit of extra vigour and excitement without sacrificing the music's spiritual virtues. The question of which editions to perform cannot be resolved to everyone's satisfaction, but suffice to say Jochum's judgment is eminently reasonable. Those who would like to supplement the highly original performance of the Nowak edition of the 8th Symphony in this cycle could perhaps turn to the Haas edition recordings by Karajan - particularly the Viennese one - or Tennstedt or Haitink.The 9th Symphony in this cycle deserves special praise, the Berlin Philharmonic really outdo themselves here, more so than usual. There is not one bad performance in this set. His second cycle for EMI, from what I have heard of it, has somewhat more forward sound but very similar interpretations and comparable playing."
The real deal in Bruckner
Paul Bubny | Maplewood, NJ United States | 08/09/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Jochum recorded the complete Bruckner symphonies twice in stereo, the second time in the late '70s with the Staatskapelle Dresden, a few years before his death. That cycle, on EMI, has the advantages of more uniform recorded sound and easier availability compared to this one, and you wouldn't go wrong opting for that. But although the two cycles are pretty consistent with one another interpretively, this DG set has just that much more electricity and mystery. Like the other old-timers in Bruckner (Furtwaengler, Schuricht, Knappertsbusch), Jochum keeps tempi flexible and doesn't "refine" the textures. This is a Bruckner style with more passion than the "monumental" approach and more soul than the slicked-up approach, and it makes most of the newer guys sound inauthentic."
Distinctive, often compelling Bruckner from Jochum
Kenji Fujishima | East Brunswick, NJ USA | 11/19/2004
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Eugen Jochum's DG cycle of the Bruckner symphonies with both the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic was the first ever issued on LP in one set; for that reason, this set will always have its place in classical-recording history. For some, that will be enough to make this a set worth checking out. If you're looking for one representative set for your own personal collection, though...then choice is arguably more difficult.
Jochum, of course, always conducted the Bruckner symphonies in a manner that is very different from that of another famous Bruckner authority, Herbert von Karajan (whose own DG cycle from the later '70s to the early '80s I have not yet heard in its entirety). The former is more in the romantic Wilhelm Furtwangler mold, especially in his use of flexible tempi in almost all of the symphonies in one instance or another.
For those who consider Bruckner "slow" and "boring," these may be the performances to change your mind, since for the most part these are lively, well-thought-out, authoritative performance that truly bring life and passion to Bruckner's music. That said, having heard a reasonable variety of different approaches to these symphonic peaks, I must say that I find Karajan's and Haitink's steadier, more far-seeing approach preferable overall, and that sometimes Jochum's enthusiasm, infectious though it is, gets the better of him. The performances of Bruckner's 4th and 7th Symphonies suffer somewhat in this respect; his unmarked tempo manipulations don't always convince, sacrificing structural wholeness---certainly important in Bruckner's music especially---to the passion of particular moments.
And yet the whole cycle, in the end, comes off better than the sum of its parts. Throughout these performances, whatever you may think of one detail or another, there is never any doubt that Jochum is in full control, that he understands these works (in his own way), and that he truly has something to say about them. His authority shines through in these performances, and that certainly counts for something; these are far from negligible, hardly routine performances, and for that reason alone worth hearing.
The highlights: Jochum's performances of Bruckner's first three symphonies---especially the beautiful 2nd---make very good cases for these rarely-played works. Despite my misgivings about certain aspects of this performance of the popular 4th, as a whole it is also a distingushed reading, very dramatic, and with a sublime slow movement. Jochum's 9th is also very good, with a moving, long-breathed Adagio. But the absolute best performance of this set is this 1958 account of the 5th, a symphony of Bruckner's Jochum loved above the others. The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra play terrifically throughout, and the brass (with 11 added players) is simply glorious as the symphony winds down with its powerful concluding chorale. This, I think, is a better performance than either Jochum's later Dresden recording or Karajan's much-acclaimed 1976 DG take (though it doesn't quite match Haitink's 1972 Concertgebouw performance, still a personal favorite of mine).
In the end, whatever you may think of Jochum's distinctive view of Bruckner the symphonist, these are still performances of intelligence and convincing (for the most part) fervor and enthusiasm. It may not be the absolute best set available, but it deserves to be heard. Recommended."
Track Listings (4) - Disc #1
