[TR24][OF] Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 - Budapest Festival Orchestra, Iván (Ivan) Fischer - 2014 (Classical)

Symphony no.7 in E major (1884)
01. I. Allegro moderato (18:40)
02. II. Adagio (18:38)
03. III. Scherzo: sehr schnell (9:03)
04. IV. Finale: bewegt, doch nicht schnell (10:23)

Bruckner is the saint, the tzadik, the bodhisattva, the guru among composers. He is the purest and most capable of religious ecstasy. Everything is seen with the clearest vision, built to majestic proportions and felt with deepest emotions. The first melody commences as if it were the purest ever written. But soon the notes of a simple E major triad of divine simplicity give way to a chromatic search surrounding the dominant note ‘b” with a deeply felt human desire. The melody seems to find its calm cadence, but it leaps up again, three times, aiming to attain yet higher ecstasy. And this is only the start... --Iván Fischer
(...) If you’re familiar with Fischer and his orchestra’s Mahler recordings, you’ll be delighted by the spacious nobility of the sound at the start of the symphony, the plasticity of the phrasing, the dynamic control as Fischer keeps the tempo flowing…it feels fresh, and alive. (...) this is a breath of Alpine freshness (...) The recording, by the way, is superb…rich, airy, detailed, dynamically impressive with no sense of strain…and you could say exactly the same of the playing… --BBC Radio 3
(...) superb choice of tempos (...) The playing of this excellent orchestra is very fine in every department (...) it is all so natural. (...) At time, I confess I almost cried out in admiration for this conductor's and orchestra's total grasp of this by no means straightforward work: the musicianship dispayed here is total. (...) The recording quality is equally of a very high standard (...) Those who want to investigate Bruckner's E major Symphony could not do better than invest in this recording. It is one of the finest I have heard for many years. --International Record Review
What makes Fischer so intriguing isn’t just his programming or his outspokenness, it is the total commitment to his interpretation that he demands and his players provide. There likely isn’t a better example of this phenomenon in Fischer’s discography than this recording. (...) Fischer’s band weaves, dances, and sings throughout this recording. (...) The sound quality is first-rate, as always. (...)n the end, the magnificence of the BFO’s playing cannot be overstated. The uniformity of color across the sections is breathtaking. The brass, strings, and woodwinds share every nuance of attack, release, and weight of sound. --ConcertoNet
(...) In the end, the magnificence of the BFO’s playing cannot be overstated. The uniformity of color across the sections is breathtaking. The brass, strings, and woodwinds share every nuance of attack, release, and weight of sound. (...) there’s no denying the fact that he has a valid and cogent vision of the work, one that the Budapest Festival Orchestra executes beautifully, captured by the Channel Classics engineers in typically warm, naturally balanced SACD sound. --Classics Today
(...) the energy is coupled with warmth and understanding, and that’s partly due to the recording quality. The word that springs to mind for both performance and recording is ‘resplendent’. It has all the virtues inherent in SACD, of placing the instruments with pin-point accuracy. --Musicweb International
(...) a superb performance of this symphony (...) The performance recorded here, with the Budapest Festival Orchestra which Fischer founded, is robust and precise. It’s a fine match for the recording prowess of Channel Classics, who seems to always bring its best game to the recording sessions.(...) Channel Classics always seems to get the strings right, and this recording is no exception. (...) --Audiophile Audition
Personnel:
Budapest Festival Orchestra
Iván Fischer, conductor
Recorded: March 2012, Palace of Arts, Budapest, Hungary