Search - Bruckner, Karajan, Philharmonia Orchestra :: Symphony 8

Karajan's 1958 Bruckner 8th w/BPO...

Sébastien Melmoth | Hôtel d'Alsace, PARIS | 10/17/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

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On the question of Bruckner 8ths:



This is Karajan's first (studio recorded) outing with the 8th, and it is spectacular:



Karajan/BPO, 1958:



I. Allegro moderato [17'05"]

II. Scherzo & Trio [16'04"]

III. Adagio [27'31"]

IV. Finale [26'17"]



True Brucknerians will know...



Also reissued w/different cover and additional material: Bruckner: Symphony No. 8; Overtures by Mendelssohn, Nicolai, Wagner & Weber .

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Karajan's Best Bruckner!!

Scriabinmahler | UK | 12/05/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Most critics agree finest recording of Karajan's Bruckner 8th is the DG version with VPO, but I think this EMI recording with BPO is superior for its intensely beautiful string playing, deeply elegiac slow movement, and other-worldly sublimity and immense grandeur of the last movement. It sounds as if Karajan gave everything he could to this performance. Nowadays this degrees of commitment and passion for music are becoming rare thing (all great conductors are dead ones!). Very warm and reasonably good stereo recording made in 1958.



Wagner's Preludes from Parsifal and Lohengrin are very apt choice for filling, equally very profound and powerful performances, recorded in 70s.



These recordings should be reissued as The Great Recordings of the Century!

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