I just can't get into Bruckner

I suggest you start with symphony 6.It is a little lighter than most of the others,it is a little bit "Bruckner light", but still fantastic music.The second slow movement is breathtakingly beautiful.One of Bruckners most serene moments.

I have to admit, I too, find it difficult to listen to Bruckner. Other than the 4th, 6th, and 9th, I find it tough going. Can it be that a lot of patience is required to listen to these symphonies? Sometimes, the orchestra sounds like nothing but a vast organ. I know that Bruckner was an organist so his worked is obviously informed by that instrument. I have the complete Tintner set on Naxos and the complete Jochum set on DG. I have not yet made a comparison betweent these sets. I own other individual performances with conductors such as Vanska, Salonen, Klemplerer, etc.

As the gentlest possible introduction, listen to the Symphony in F Minor, the so-called Study Symphony, conducted by Inbal.  It doesn't sound far removed from Schubert or Mendelssohn.  If you like that, next move to the 00 'Nullte' Symphony under Haitink.  These two symphonies are untypical, but they may remove your aversion and make you want to explore the later works.

Alternatively, try jumping in at the deep end with Symphony # 9 under Reggie Goodall.  In my opinion it's his very best, though last, symphony and if it doesn't draw you in after a few plays Bruckner may not be for you. 

I have the Karajan cycle, too, but over the years I've turned to Georg Tintner's recordings on Naxos more and more.  Whether it's the performances or the audio quality (or both), I think they have an immediacy that makes Bruckner's music more compelling, accessible, and pleasurable.

I was hooked by Bruckner at the age of around 15 when I attended a concert in Paris conducted by Carl Schuricht. It was Easter, so we had the Good Friday music from Parsifal .. plus the adagio from Bruckner's 7th symphony. My love of both Wagner and Bruckner probably dates from that one concert. It's a pity that nowadays people are denied the opportunity to get to know composers via bits of music; it has to be all Tristan & Isolde, or all the Bruckner symphonies. Difficult to appreciate and digest if it's music to which you are new.

Immediately after the Paris concert I invested in Jascha Horenstein conducting Bruckner's 9th symphony (I still have the mono LP). For the greatest Bruckner ever, however, I recommend Furtwängler's blazing live 1944 Berlin performance (in surprisingly good sound).

I just can't help not joining in this conversion!

As for me, my initial acquaintance with Bruckner was with his Second Symphony. Such a sublime work I thought to myself. Then I came across his 3rd & 4th soon thereafter (the latter done by Sinopoli & Chicago if memory serves me correctly). After hearing a live performance of the Ninth with Giulini and the Vienna Philharmonic (Nov. 1988), my admiration towards Bruckner solidified. But what shook me to the core was Klaus Tennstedt's live performance of the 8th Symphony with the Philadelphia Orchestra (Spring-1989 - he later performed the work with the Minnesota Orchestra). I was bowed over by its power and magnitude in expression. Since that day, I view Bruckner as a genius and perhaps as much of a revolutionary as was Wagner. That view never withered. And the next year (1990), when I listened to a live broadcast of Gunther Wand's performance of the 5th with the Chicago Symphony, the rest was history.   

I sincerely yet passionately recommend that you start with the 8th Symphony (Wand and the Berlin Phil-RCA, Karajan and the Vienna Phil-DG, or Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony-DG in LP). The Wand recording is the best in the catelogue. Then try the 9th (with either Giulini & the Vienna Phil. or Barenboim with the Berlin PO). Then try the 5th (Jochum with the Concertgebouw Orchestra-last recording issued by Tahra). Then try the 4th or the 7th (the 4th done by Bohm and the Vienna PO, or Jochum with the Berlin/the 7th perf. by Karajan and the Vienna PO). And just take it from there. But go slowly and don't be daunted by this. I guarantee the discovery and the experience in listening to and understanding Bruckner are immensely rewarding and even life-altering.

One final thought. On the 3rd Symphony, do try the original 1873 version with Ms. Simone Young perf. with the Hamburg PO. The listening experience is too immensely rewarding to be overlooked.

Happy hunting!

Dave Hollingsworth

dholling1@verizon.net

Sebastian,

Do try and perservere: there is almost no (musical) pleasure like Bruckner. I have struggled with many composers over the years, but Bruckner came quite easily. To me, he is very close in spirit and (often, but not always) melodic inspirtation to Schubert. If you like the 8th or 9th symphonies of Schubert, you are almost certainly going to love Bruckner because what Bruckner did was a natural extension of the Schubertian symphonic enterprise. (Unlike, say, Mahler, which is something else altogether). The mood tends to remain fairly stable during each movement and is often devotional, contemplative or spiritual in nature. The music is tonal, but key-shifts are frequent; orchestration is often organised into contrasting blocks of colour: lower strings, followed by brass chorale, followed by woodwind.....and so on. 

The best place to start is probably with the slow movements of the 4th or the 7th, both of which are extremely lyrical. The fourth feels a little hesitant at first, but soon blossoms in a lovely melody in the cello, then builds to a classic Brucknerian climax (7 minutes in, roughly). Then we revert to the faltering rhythms and cello melody before a thundering climax at the end. It isn't a long piece by Bruckner standards - sixteen minutes or so.  

Bruckner 1, 2 and 3 are usually considered to be pre-mature Bruckner and not entirely characteristic (lots of conductors miss them out), so the corpus really starts at 4 and ends at 9 - 6 symphonies altogether. 8 and 9 are out of this world - massive, profound, mysterious. But they are also quite hard to  enjoy first time roud because they are less obviously melodic and the harmonic progressions, the ratcheting and release of tension, can seem a bit relentless. Individual movements are sometimes very long - up to 30 minutes or so.

So start with 4, then 7. Once you like even one movement, you'll find it quite easy to get the rest. Don't listen to those who put Bruckner down: just look at the sheer number of world class conductors who are drawn to Bruckner these days (Abbado, Harnoncourt etc). Karajan is a decent choice, but he tends to emphasise the monumental aspects of the work. You might find it easier to enjoy a "lighter", leaner take on 4 - Osmo Vanska with the Minnesota Orchestra, for instance, or Harnoncourt.