Classical home listening - a good week for Bruckner fans

The Guardian 0

New releases from the Vienna Philharmonic, the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge and Collegium Vocale Gent

• Bruckner struggled with his last completed symphony, the almighty Eighth, reworking initial efforts and leaving posterity to debate – fervently in some quarters – which version or edition is best. The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, which gave the premiere in the Golden Hall of the city’s Musikverein in 1892, has long been associated with the work and has made many classic recordings, notably those by Wilhelm Furtwängler (1944) and Herbert von Karajan (1988). Now, as the first instalment of a new Bruckner cycle, taken from concerts last year at the Musikverein, the Vienna Philharmonic, under conductor Christian Thielemann, has recorded Bruckner’s Symphony No 8 again (Sony).