Anton Bruckner: Symphony Nr. 7 in E major WAB 107 

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It's marvelous, I agree, but If you've really listened to the adagio of Bruckner 8 that one is truly overwhelming IMO, and perhaps the greatest I've ever heard. This composer is so seriously underrated. But I prefer and own these Karajan DG "wing" recordings for all of them: it's not just HVK's unparalleled conducting of these pieces, but the superb DG engineering.

BP, as of today, can not reproduce this high level of expression due to lacks of great conductors and their passions pursuing perfections.

Too many soloists in the orchestra, yes. Also, the Zeitgeist, which is afraid of anything metaphysical. So even with a visionary artist as music director, I don't think this BPO could come close to this result. Abbado and Rattle really screwed up this orchestra. Abbado wanted to change the sound - for a comparison, watch Abbado's Eroica and then watch Herbie's. The contrast (Abbado = wispy, light; Karajan = powerful, architectonic) could not be more stark. And Rattle was never right for the standard repertoire, plus he became less of a musician and more of a musical celebrity/activist as the years went by in Berlin. Karajan was born into a tradition that recognized and nurtured his genius, as was Furtwaengler before him. Two very different artists, we shall not look upon their like again.

@@Hotspur77 Like Osborne wrote in the Grammophon: they wants to create a glorious Chambers Orchestra after Karajans death.

@@duwir5959 Osborne has always appreciated HvK - one of a handful of stalwarts who didn’t join the chorus of anti-Karajan sycophants in the ‘80s-‘00s. When I was a student, it was fashionable to bash HvK, and Abbado was feted as a reformer. Rattle was more of the same (but with even less talent). Seems like the BPO is finally starting to appreciate what it had in Karajan…Petrenko still feels like a pale compromise…but the truth is there isn’t anyone much better out there. In 2021, we get the artists we deserve. In Berlin and elsewhere.

I doubt Anton Bruckner knew of bolshevism

Not over yet

I commend you on your unparalleled taste--for several decades now I have felt exactly the same. If German symphonies are the apogee of the classical music form, then that 1st movement coda is the summit of the German symphonic form. Brings tears to my eyes to hear it. This said, the finale coda to Bruckner 5 comes damned close: closer than any other piece of music I can name offhand. This man has to be one of the most sadly underrated artists of the past hundred years, IMO.