Don’t miss the June 2024 Issue of Gramophone Magazine, which features a fantastic review — and Editor’s Choice distinction — for Bruckner from the Archives, Volume 1!
“Bruckner’s ‘Study’ Symphony (also known as Symphony ‘No 00’) was completed in 1863 and can be located within the Kitzler ‘Study Book’, which Bruckner used during his time as a pupil of the German cellist and conductor Otto Kitzler. It was published by the Bruckner Edition in 1973 and exists in only one version. The Trauermusik for large orchestra was written by Kitzler and his son as a tribute to Bruckner (Gerd Schaller has recorded it as part of his Bruckner symphony cycle – Profil, 10/13). The recording of the symphony used on this first volume of Somm’s enterprising series ‘Bruckner From the Archives’ (a stereo taping) is by the Bruckner Orchestra, Linz, under Kurt Wöss and dates from 1974, and… stands the test of time, fully on a par with recordings under Ashkenazy, Inbal, Rozhdestvensky and Schaller.… The rarely heard early String Quartet (not to be confused with the far better-known and musically superior String Quintet) is beautifully played by the Koeckert Quartet in 1951 and other early works programmed are the March in D minor, Overture in G minor (conducted by the estimable Dean Dixon), Three Pieces for Orchestra and Psalm 112. This is the first of six two-disc volumes and if the following five hold to the high standards achieved here, where expert audio restoration and remastering is by Lani Spahr, informed annotations are by Benjamin M Korstvedt and Bruckner recordings guru John F Berky is in attendance, there’ll be considerable cause for excitement among all dedicated Brucknerians.”
—Rob Cowan, Gramophone Magazine
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