Symphony no. 7

"This exciting release of the celebrated and the little known contains live Dresden accounts ... It has become the tradition at Dresden for Thielemann to open each season with a Bruckner symphony ... Thielemann is nothing if not gripping and there's a considerable spirituality about what we hear that can leave a powerful effect on the listener ... With this outstanding live performance Thielemann and his Staatskapelle demonstrate that they are more than a match for any of the competition ... There is much impressively unified singing in the Liebesmahl ... Thielemann does a sterling job bringing his orchestral and choral forces together so proficiently ... Given memorable performances Bruckner and Wagner devotees should not hesitate over this most impressive release".

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"Recording of the week: What elevates these performances for me is the fact that Nelsons takes equal care over the string parts ... Having said that, the brass certainly don't disappoint either: the outbursts of the slow movement of the Seventh are handled extremely well, with a beautifully-paced series of cadences that culminates in an ecstatic climax ... This is shaping up to be a fine modern cycle, and I continue to recommend it most highly".

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"Recommended: This is a truly unmissable release that combines this conductor's and ensemble's well-deserved accolades in high and late Romantic repertoire with a much-welcomed advocacy for contemporary orchestral music".

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"Recommended: Persuasively interpreted and marvellously played, this is a very distinguished account of the Seventh symphony ... The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra commissioned Mason Bates' Resurrexit to celebrate Manfred Honeck's sixtieth birthday ... It's an attractive, exciting piece ... [It] has great energy and there are vibrant colours in the orchestration ... I liked Bates' piece very much ... This disc is as successful on the technical side as it is on the musical side".

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"Recording of the month: I have in general been impressed by the performances from Honeck and the Pittsburgh SO; they are in many ways one of the most interesting and rewarding partnerships on the modern classical scene, so I had great expectations of this new release. I was not disappointed; indeed I was immediately gripped ... This now becomes for me the equal of any recording I know; I fact, I am inclined to make it the prime recommendation".

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"One of the most striking characteristics of the present performance is the consistency of flow throughout ... and there is no harm done to Bruckner by playing him this way. It could very easily result in a performance without character but here Young shows herself the master of subtlety because her interpretation ... is always absorbing yet never in any way disturbing. She never rushes climaxes".

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"Simone Young's performance is spirited and convincing ... I enjoyed this performance very much. I also liked the sound on this SACD which has presence and definition ... A fine addition to Simone Young's Bruckner cycle. Collectors who have been following it need not hesitate to acquire it".

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"Aarhus Symfoniorkester under ledelse af James Loughran lægger kortene på bordet, sådan som de er spillet af Bruckner ... undervejs sker underet. Man fanges, fastholdes og gribes, af musikken af komponisten og de mange forskellige situationer og disses skift, indtil sidste tone klinger af. I mellemtiden har man været på de højeste tinder i dynamisk klangudfoldelse ... hvor der dog spilles herligt".

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"The contribution of the Staatskapelle Dresden is magnificent, the strings in particular playing with quite exceptional depth of tone and expressiveness ... Dynamic contrasts are carefully observed and the balance between instrumental groups is exemplary ... The recording of both works is first-class".

"Memorably recordings have been made in recent times ... but how is it that so few latter-day conductors appear able to get line aboard? And 'line' is the operative word, since it's not so much the often doleful tempos which undermine this newest recording as the apparent inability of conductor Andris Nelsons to establish that all-commanding pulse ... Is the problem that too much attention is being lavished on the orchestra ... and not enough on the music?".

"If you're looking for something a little less individualistic, however, you'll probalbly be well served by Herbert Blomstedt's spacious interpretation, expertly executed by a confident ensemble capable of clear articulation, superb timbral definition and subtle dynamic shading even at the quietest end of the spectrum".

"Much of the performance is magical and the tender, warmly cosseting string sound of the Staatskapelle Berlin is of truly vintage quality ... This is an emotionally generous, spontaneous and outstandingly communicative account of the Seventh, I'd say the best that Barenboim has yet given us".

"På kun én uge dirigerede han hele seks af Bruckners mastodontiske symfonier og var solist i Beethovens fem klaverkoncerter. Maratonpræstationen medførte nogle resultater, der gør Bruckner-symfonierne mere nuancerede".

"Honeck, like Carlo Maria Giulini, began his career as a viola player, which explains why both conduct a Seventh whose defining string sound comes, as it should, from the second violins, violas and cellos. The Pittsburgh players, antiphonally spaced, are superb ... 'Resurrexit', an orchestral meditation on the Easter story painted in Middle Eastern colours, was commissioned for Honeck's 60th birthday in 2018 ... The orchestra play the piece superbly, as I imagine only they can".

"The defining character of [Runnicles's] Bruckner on this showing is the singing fluency of the line. Everything has shape and purpose and a naturalness of phrasing ... Those who favour a grander, more expansive, more monolithic approach to this music may find the scale of Runnicles's reading a shade diminishing. But be in no doubt that it is thoughtful and radiant and eminently musical".

"Vurdering: Editor's choice" - "Järvi offers an extremely beautiful performance, responsively played and, most crucially, sensitive to key transitions".

"Right from the opening pp tremolando you can tell that as an interpretation this is going to be something off the beaten track. Rather than cue the familiar shimmering haze, Fischer prefers a softly undulating chord ... That warmth remains a constant throughout the performance".

"Vurdering: IRR outstanding" - "This is a quite magnificent performance of this immortal masterpiece. from bar to last, Iván Fischer has the measure of the Symphony, exemplified throughout by his superb choice of tempos ... The recording quality is equally of a very high standard".

"Dansk Bruckner ... og det er bemærkelsesværdig godt. En bred, næsten sakralt klingende Bruckner, med rolige stigninger til de vældige højdepunkter og en apoteotisk finale, som får én til at rette sig op i stolen ... Orkesterspillet er i topklasse, man mærker knap, at det er en koncertoptagelse ... Anbefales!".

"Petatone has provided excellent sound. This is yet another significant step towards what I am convinced will eventually turn out to be one of the finest recorded Bruckner cycles of the 21st century".

"All in all, this is a most beautifully recorded and deeply impressive issue all true Brucknerians will want to possess".