Ghost of Sunday Classics preview: We said it wasn't over till we heard Bruckner 9

by Ken

It's going to be pretty much a quick in and out tonight -- an actual, you know, preview. Sunday, as you may have guessed, we finally tackle the Bruckner Ninth Symphony. I still haven't decided whether we're going to do the whole thing in one fell swoop, which is going to make for an extremely large and unwieldy post, because there are any number of issues that come up, or we're going to work our way through the piece in pieces. Either way, here's a preview of what we're going to hear.


IN A NUTSHELL -- THE BRUCKNER
NINTH IN UNDER 2½ MINUTES

BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 9 in D minor

excerpt from i. Feierlich, misterioso (Solemn, mysterious)


excerpt from ii. Scherzo: Bewegt, lebhaft (Animated, lively)


excerpt from iii. Adagio: Langsam, feierlich (Slow, solemn)


Bavarian State Orchestra, Wolfgang Sawallisch, cond. Orfeo, recorded Dec. 23, 1984


YOU WANT MORE? OKAY,  HERE'S A LITTLE MORE

BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 9 in C minor:
i. Feierlich, misterioso (Solemn, mysterious) -- opening

[A]

[B]


We have here two very different (but significantly related) performances of the opening minutes of the Bruckner Ninth. Any thoughts? We'll talk about them tomorrow.


IN TOMORROW'S GHOST OF SUNDAY CLASSICS POST --

In case you haven't guessed, we attack Bruckner 9 -- before it can attack us.


THE SUNDAY CLASSICS ALL-BRUCKNER POSTS

Bruckner's Fourth Symphony: Four stories for four movements [1/10/2010; 12/8/2013]
Preview: Two Bruckner Scherzos [1/3/2014]
Bruckner 7: A symphony built on its opening pair of musical twin towers [1/5/2014]
Symphony No. 2; Bruckner begins to establish his voice, hushed and clear [8/7/2011]
Preview: We said it wasn't over till we heard Bruckner 9 [10/4/2014]
Bruckner 9: What "cathedrals of sound"? With a detour through Wagner's Ring cycle [10/5/2014]
Bruckner 9 (cont.): Last scherzo with Anton [10/12/2014]

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