#bruckner24

The complete Versions Edition

INCL. ALL AVAILABLE 19 VERSIONS | MARKUS POSCHNER

Bruckner burst out of the confines of the cathedral using that most secular of musical forms: the symphony. It is with reflexive reoccurrence in music history that supposed performance traditions burn themselves into a score as if they were a given… and the more so, the further we get from the work’s creation. So many clichés and truths about his person and his work are at last being questioned or, if they aren’t yet, are overdue some scrutiny. It is an essential aspect of this CD Edition to read and understand the text fresh and anew. Whence does Bruckner’s music come and whereunto does it point? With the Bruckner Orchestra Linz and the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra Capriccio could engage two of the best Austrian orchestras for this in total 19 versions counting cycle. With about 1065 minutes of music this complete symphonic edition will be finished in 2024, when we will celebrate Bruckner’s 200th Birthday. 

 

Symphony in f-minor
1863 | BOL

 

Symphony No. 1 in c-minor
1866, 1891 | BOL

 

Symphony in d-minor
„Nullte“ 1869 | BOL

 

Symphony No. 2 c-minor
1872 | RSO Wien
1877 | BOL

 

Symphony No. 3 d-minor
1873, 1889 | RSO Wien
1877 | BOL

 

Symphony No. 4 Es-major
„Romantic“ 1876, Finale 1878, 1888 RSO Wien
1878-1880 | BOL

 

Symphony No. 5 B-major
1878 | RSO Wien

 

Symphony No.6 A-major
1881 | BOL - BUY

 

Symphony No. 7 E-major
1883 | BOL

 

Symphony No. 8 c-minor
1887 | RSO Wien
1890 | BOL - BUY

 

Symphony No. 9 d-minor
1894 | BOL

 

Markus Poschner Artistic Director

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A Note about the Versions of Bruckner’s Symphonies Recorded in this Collection

Devotees of Anton Bruckner’s music might be surprised to see the number of versions of the composer’s symphonies reduced to the nineteen recorded in this collection. Since the middle of the last century, the musical literature and marketing for the recording industry have created the false impression that the composer left us many more. A musicological preoccupation with identifying every layer of change in every Bruckner manuscript has resulted in a proliferation of editions with alterations that he made en route between clearly defined versions. Such changes belong in critical reports, not the score. Record producers insistence on identifying new releases as containing either the Robert Haas or Leopold Nowak edition has led to the common misconception that these two scholars printed distinct scores of all the symphonies numbered one through nine. With the exception of the second version of the Eighth, their editions are in fact very similar.

 

For the purposes of this collection, the performers have adopted the definition of “version” formulated by the editors of the New Anton Bruckner Collected Works Edition [Die neue Anton Bruckner Gesamtausgabe] now in preparation under the auspices of the Austrian National Library. As stated in its general foreword, the new edition differentiates individual versions of Bruckner’s symphonies on the basis of historical occurrences “such as a performance, printing or dedication or other event that denotes closure on a specific phase of Bruckner’s work on a composition.” [“Die NBG definiert eine Fassung über den Bezug zu Ereignissen, die einen verbindlichen Abschluss von Bruckners Arbeit an einem Stück voraussetzen, wie etwa eine Aufführung, der Drucklegung, oder auch die Widmung.”] These recordings contain the versions identified by the editors of the new collected works, and the program notes in each case offer a fulsome discussion of the reasons for the identification of that particular version. The collection does not include any of the first editions that were printed without the composer’s involvement – the so-called Schalk or Löwe versions. The only first editions of symphonies that Bruckner is known to have approved are those for the Third, Fourth and Seventh; their readings have been incorporated into the scores of the final versions (the Seventh of course has only one) of these works recorded in this set. Whenever possible the performances are based on the scores and parts that have already been completed for the new edition. [If the performance materials are ready in time for the Bruckner bicentennial celebration, the little-known intermediate Adagio that dates from between the first and second versions of the Eighth Symphony will be added to the collection.]

Paul Hawkshaw, Prof. Emeritus, Yale School of Music