Bruckner - Symphony 8 [Barenboim-Berliner Philharmoniker]Last year i seriously started to listen to this Symphony, and fell in love with it, now i have a handful of recordings of this great work, it's amazing that a work can go from being relatively unknown in my collection, to suddenly one of the two or three best Symphonies Bruckner has written, within a year.
The Symphony usually lasts from 70 to 90 minutes, many recordings spill over onto a second disc, this is a one disc version, a live recording made in the mid nineties by the Argentinian Daniel Barenboim, lasting 77 minutes.
The heavenly third movement Adagio, is very spiritual, the best slow movement that Bruckner ever wrote, every time i hear it i'm amazed at Bruckner's sheer vision, and his concentration in writing a 25 minute movement that holds the listener in it's grip from first to last, it starts off with the utmost serenity, and that lovely aching tune comes in [0:16-0:40], this is almost an idee fixe, it keeps coming back again and again, i'm always straining my ear to hear that beautiful melody again [3:03, 8:46 & 15:30], a second idea slowly rises out of the mists to the summit, where a beautiful harp plays [2:26-3:00], a glorious moment, i really notice how Bruckner makes excellent use of the violas in this Symphony, giving it a darker edge, a wonderful horn call gives a tender moment meaning [6:43-7:03], it's little touches like this that makes Bruckner a genius, and then out of nowhere the strings play high and loud, with the brass joining in exultantly, with the strings throbbing away [7:31-7:52], there's some nice work that builds up and up into a mighty crescendo [10:46-11:37], the strings soar and the brass growl, a real headlong rush, the horn call comes back, but this time it's joined by a second horn [13:47-14:09], out of the original tune played at the start of the Symphony, this time played with tremendous forte on the brass, there steals this sweet pleading respite on the strings with woodwind [17:26 onwards], and then a wistful moment on the strings [18:18 onwards], that becomes more agitated, again the fortissimo builds up to one almighty blast of glory [19:53-20:28], then... comes the coda, it's the most achingly beautiful part of this symphony [21:43 to the end], it has those sorrowful touches, the fading light at the end of the day, sorrow mixed with a bittersweet nostalgia, like two people who can't bear to say goodbye and part, there's this phrase, first called out on the clarinet [22:19], but then repeated again and again on the strings, with the horns joining in [23:21-23:56], this is the moment of moments in this Symphony, is there anything so gut-wrenchingly emotional as the ending of this movement?.
Here's Karajan conducting the Vienna Philharmonic in the great Adagio on YouTube.
