Anton Bruckner - Symphony No. 5 (Eugen Jochum)

Information

Composer: Anton Bruckner

CD1:

1. Symphony No. 5 in B flat major (1878, ed. Nowak): I. Adagio - Allegro
2. Symphony No. 5 in B flat major (1878, ed. Nowak): II. Adagio. Sehr langsam

CD2:

1. Symphony No. 5 in B flat major (1878, ed. Nowak): III. Scherzo. Molto vivace, schnell - Trio
2. Symphony No. 5 in B flat major (1878, ed. Nowak): IV. Finale. Adagio - Allegro moderato

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Eugen Jochum, conductor
Date: 1986
Label: Tahra

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Review

Last year, after I had made some less than complimentary remarks about the playing of the Concertgebouw on a set of live Bruckner recordings from the years 1970-84 under the direction of Eugen Jochum (Tahra, 6/97), a Dutch reader kindly sent me a tape of Jochum’s final concert with the orchestra, a performance of Bruckner’s Fifth Symphony given in Amsterdam in December 1986. He did not disagree with the proposition that the orchestra was unpredictable at this period, but thought the 1986 Bruckner Fifth exceptional. So it proved to be. And so it proves again: even more so, on these splendid CD transfers of what was already a first-rate stereo recording. The Fifth was the Bruckner symphony which was closest to Jochum’s heart and this marvellous performance is something his many admirers will certainly want to have. It is a pity it could not have been fitted on to a single CD, but at 83 minutes that was not possible. Apparently, at one of the two concerts, Jochum was so thrilled by the orchestra’s playing, he encored the finale! This is not on the Tahra CDs. Nor do the notes tell us what the brass section had to say. A case, I would imagine, of ‘expletives deleted’.'

-- Richard Osborne, Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/sept99/bruch5joch.htm
http://www.classicalcdreview.com/bruckner5ej.htm
http://www.amazon.com/A-Bruckner-Symphony-No-5/dp/B001FRNONM

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Anton Bruckner (4 September 1824 – 11 October 1896)) was an Austrian composer. His symphonies are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-German Romanticism because of their rich harmonic language, strongly polyphonic character, and considerable length. Bruckner composed eleven symphonies, scored for a fairly standard orchestra. His orchestration was modeled after the sound of his primary instrument, the pipe organ.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Bruckner

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Eugen Jochum (1 November 1902 – 26 March 1987) was an eminent German conductor. Jochum is considered by many to have been the foremost Bruckner conductor of the mid- to late twentieth century; he producing many outstanding recordings of Bruckner's symphonies (as well as worthy interpretations of a great many other composers).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugen_Jochum

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