Friday 28 January 2011

Bruckner - Symphony 8 [Sinopoli-Staatskapelle Dresden] 

I played this disc to participate on a Classical discussion forum, listen to the Symphony and post your thoughts / feelings, i decided to listen to the Sinopoli discs, his reading is 86 minutes long, spread over two discs, yes his is a measured reading, other versions can be issued on one disc, it's one of those works that seems to hit the 80 minute mark, some go over and some under, compared to other Bruckner Eighths that i have,

Barenboim - 77
Wand - 81
Harnoncourt - 83
Haitink - 85
Sinopoli - 86

Giuseppe Sinopoli was born in Italy, and died of heart attack sustained during the conducting of Verdi's Aida in 2001, he was 54, the booklet shows the Opera House of the Staatskapelle Dresden, and in the background the bombed out ruins of the Second World War, not too sure what it's trying to say alongside Bruckner's Eighth.

Well this listening experience was truly staggering, i've never enjoyed this Symphony so much, all the movements were a pure revelation, at the moment the 4th Symphony is my favourite, but i really feel that could change, and this one could surpass it, 

Herbert Von Karajan conducting the third movement Adagio on YouTube.