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In the Forum: Musical Discussions
In the Thread: Stay home with Bruckner
Post Subject: Buying In to BrucknerPosted by Paul S on: 8/11/2020
JJ, for me, the issue with Bruckner is that it does not often sound coherent to me, in terms of themes, phrasing, and structure. Rather, it often sound discursive to me. I have a copy of the 4th (comments in the Music section thread) that mostly makes sense to me, and I have played it a lot, listening closely. For some time I have thought that better performances would allow me to hear into Bruckner's music better, but, at the same time, the sound pressure level has to be adequate to present this Big and Complex Music credibly/intelligibly. I don't think it was written with hi-fi in mind. For one thing, there's a lot going on at low frequencies, and a lot of the interplay seems to "ride" on the LF, with things getting "worked out" over long periods in that context. For another thing, although most of Bruckner is less bombastic than, say, Wagner, yet high level dynamic contrasts are key to getting a good reading. What I'm saying is, maybe start with the 4th, and don't give up on finding adequate recordings of good performances, but also be aware that not every system is up to immersion in Bruckner.

Best regards,
Paul S

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