[SACD-R][OF] Anton Bruckner – Sinfonie Nr.8 c-moll (Gunter Wand, Berliner Philharmoniker) - 1991/2007 (Orchestral, Romantic)

Bruckner symphonies can be tough. Also tougher to record & play. The Gunter Wand set is as good as it gets. The man was the last of the old school, & he is missed. It just doesn’t get any better than this.
BYCC-38389-90 on Obi.
ESOTERIC equipment used for re-mastering
The criterion of re-mastering is to faithfully capture the quality of the original master tapes. ESOTERIC’s flag ship D/A converters, model D-01VU, Rubidium master clock generator model G-0Rb & ESOTERIC MEXCEL interconnect cables & power cords, were all used for this re-mastering session. This combination of highly advanced technology greatly contributed to capturing the high quality sound of the original master tapes.
Bruckner’s Symphony No 8 is his finest & longest symphony. The haunting & spiritual adagio (lasting 27:329 minutes under Wand) is the crowning glory of the composition. Although I am a longtime admirer, Bruckner is not everyone’s cup of tea. He requires patience & concentration over the long spans of music & the slow progression to massive climaxes.
Gunter Wand died 13 years ago on Valentine’s Day, having just turned 90. He had a flourishing fan base in his last 20 years, fostered by many releases on RCA/BMG & the highly vocal support of The Gramophone. Even now the flood of Wand recordings hasn’t subsided. It’s as if every radio broadcast he ever made deserves to be burned onto CD. He was such a consistent conductor that his interpretations never underwent highs & lows of inspiration, & if you like them, the main reason to choose 1 over another depends on which orchestra he led at the time.
Wand made his name with Bruckner, & I’ve heard 1 or 2 great performances from him, generally in a live concert setting where he added an extra measure of involvement. Newcomers have a right to be confused by the number of duplications in his output of Bruckner.
For listening comparison I chose another live reading, with the Deutsches S-O – IMHO these are the 2 best played & recorded of the various versions. Despite their overwhelming sonority in concert, the BPO heard through microphones don’t sound hugely better than their counterparts, & overall there’s more electricity in the air with the Deutsches S-O performance. The Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin generally sounds several notches better than either his Hamburg or Cologne orchestras (until the end, when he recorded with an orchestra as august as the Berlin Phil., Wand was a creature of the extensive German radio system of regional orchestras).
Amazon reviews:
Can there be a better Bruckner recording?
By A Customer on 3 Dec. 2001
Arguably the world’s greatest conductor of the “core” Austro-German repertoire continues his latest traversal of the Bruckner symphonies with this extraordinary reading of the 8th Symphony, recorded in the Berlin Philharmonie in January 2001, a few weeks after his 89th birthday. The fire of inspiration burns as brightly as ever, the orchestra play like angels & the recording quality could hardly be improved upon. Wand regards this symphony not as a “romantic” work, but as a large classical symphony whose structure must be respected & adhered to. The result should win over even hardline Bruckner-sceptics. A bargain, & already a historic recording.
A remarkable performance from Günter Wand
By Mr. Christian Hoskins on 6 Sept. 2007
This recording of Bruckner’s 8th Symphony from Günter Wand & the Berlin Philharmonic is a remarkable achievement. It is difficult to think of any other recording of the symphony which so successfully delivers the combination of splendour, excitement & spirituality found here. One has the sense that conductor & orchestra have worked together to shape every phrase & balance every texture as carefully as possible. At the same time, one never has the feeling that the care for individual details has been achieved at the expense of musical flow or the overall symphonic structure.
Although Wand was 89 when this performance was recorded in 2001, the symphony’s climaxes are more exciting than in any other recording I know. In the final climax of the 1st movement, for example, I was taken aback by the snarling intensity of the music at this point. Equally remarkable is the galloping allegro around 14:50 into the finale, which thrilling beyond measure. Most other performances sound perfunctory at this point. Similarly, the great adagio also has a thrilling climax, & the long coda of the finale is sustained with enormous power.
If I were to be critical, I would have to say there are few places where I feel the tension ebbs a little. Why this is I do not know, but it is as if Wand were suddenly tired or distracted. One area where this can be felt is during the coda of the adagio, which is not as moving as with the Giulini or Karajan VPO recordings.
The Berlin Philharmonic play with a virtuosity & a unanimity which is extremely impressive. Despite being recorded live, the symphony is given a superb recording: the sound is clear, weighty & well balanced, & the engineers have managed to provide a sense of space around the musicians. There are a handful of faint coughs to be heard from the audience, but I don’t find this a problem.
All things considered, I would put this Wand performance at the top of the current list of recommendable recordings of Bruckner’s 8th. Incidentally, prospective purchasers may wish to know that Wand uses the Haas version of the symphony.

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