Although Bruckner revised his Second Symphony several times after its initial composition in 1872, there’s much to be said for hearing the work in its original form, including the opportunity to experience the Adagio without the cuts that unbalance its structure in the 1877 version. Listeners familiar with other interpretations of the 1872 version will be in for a surprise when hearing this recording, however, for although Markus Poschner uses the standard edition by William Carragan, the Adagio here precedes the Scherzo rather than vice versa. An explanation is provided in the booklet note by Paul Hawkshaw, the editor of the New Anton Bruckner Complete Edition, whose research has found that although there is some evidence that the composer considered placing the Scherzo before the Adagio, no surviving version of the complete symphony features the movements in this sequence.

As in his recent recording of the 1877 version of the Second Symphony (1/24), Poschner conducts a fast-paced performance in all four movements. This latest instalment in Capriccio’s cycle strikes me as being the more persuasive of the two, however. In addition to communicating a greater sense of involvement throughout, the new performance finds Poschner adopting more flexible tempos than in his previous Bruckner interpretations, with some well-judged ritardandos during transitions to slower sections of the score. In the hushed passage just before fig K (9'43") in the Adagio, however, the pulse slows so much that the performance loses concentration. Here I prefer the fractionally faster approaches adopted by Marcus Bosch (Coviello, 5/11) and Ivor Bolton (Oehms, 4/17) in their recordings of the score. Nevertheless, with excellent sound, this new version is a recommendable option if you want to hear the symphony in its 1872 form.

Of the three versions of the Third Symphony, the final one from 1889 remains the most widely recorded, and any new version needs to be especially compelling to stand out. Poschner’s performance has the distinction of being the fastest on any official label and is enlivened by some notably vigorous playing, especially from the timpani, but does not compete in terms of mystery, rapture or excitement when heard alongside the recordings by Karajan (DG, 3/91) or Sanderling (Berlin Classics, 3/08). It has to be said, though, that Capriccio’s documentation, including Paul Hawkshaw’s informative booklet essay, is first-class.