Search - Anton Bruckner, Daniel Barenboim, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra :: Symphony 9

One of my five favorite Ninths, out of nearly 70.

Into | everywhereandnowhere | 02/21/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's hard to believe the Netherlands reviewer was listening to the same performance...I think the real story is he just doesn't like Barenboim, Barenboim's Bruckner, and the Berlin Philharmonic...and whenever I read a review where someone's talking about a Bruckner performance being excessively "Wagnerian," I also have to wonder about their personal biases "coloring" their opinion too much. In fact, when someone doesn't like one of the very best latterday Bruckner conductors, and one of the two best Bruckner orchestras in the world (the VPO is the other one), one has to wonder how much that reviewer really likes Bruckner...unless it's smoothed-over, slow, safe, "New Age" Bruckner. Don't "throw out the baby with the bathwater" by writing off all "old school Bruckner."



I have owned nearly 70 Bruckner Ninths, and after some "weeding out," I still have nearly 60. This is one of my five favorite Ninths, and might be the most "spiritually scary" since Furtwangler's. This one may not be for the faint of heart, but if you have any serious interest in the Ninth, you should have this one. Too bad it's out of print, at the time of this review, but if it's available on the Marketplace at a reasonable price (say, less than $15) grab it."