03-20-2014 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree Romy the Cat Boston, MA Posts 10,156 Joined on 05-28-2004 Post #: 76 Post ID: 20661 Reply to: 20657 I did not get why they need to play national anthems in beginning. fiogf49gjkf0d I think the third movement was the best. Mehta really took his time there and dropped the overly fast tempo of the whole work. Some moment were truly nice during that adagio.   I did  not hate the performance in the way how I hated some other Bruckner attempts, BSO for instance. The orchestra was exactly what I expected: here and there, hit and miss… not so fancy tonally and mostly not so able for a complicated or interesting phrasing.  The bigger problem to me that this orchestra sounded very much over controlled. Mehta generally did not allow any phases to decay properly and he was shoring the notes tales, in combination with over-disciplined play it was not very pleasant. Perhaps they accustom to play in small and dryer hall.  The lower octaves instilments and sections did not sound good at all – they were muddy and not expressive. Even in the third movement, where Mehta settle in the proper Bruckner tempi most the orchestra felt like was scared to play. Everything was over-balanced but in not so natural way – it was in a way too contrived music. I do not know about balance. There were some basic timing problems but that would be very much the subject of our location. From where we sit the second violin were good 25 feet behind the first and it is 1” per millisecond – too auditable. The brass balance was fine for Brahms but too conservative for Bruckner. The brass play in the last movement was very bad, I guess they got tiered. Generally I do not feel that it was disappointing – it was exactly how it was expected. BSO would NOT play better but where else would you listen the life B8 in Boston?   Me. "I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche

03-20-2014 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree clarkjohnsen Boston, MA, US Posts 298 Joined on 06-02-2004 Post #: 77 Post ID: 20662 Reply to: 20661 Where else in Boston? Ben Zander! fiogf49gjkf0d NT

03-27-2014 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree Paul S San Diego, California, USA Posts 2,657 Joined on 10-12-2006 Post #: 78 Post ID: 20683 Reply to: 20662 The 4th Movement? fiogf49gjkf0d Today the electricity was not so bad, and I thought I would listen to the only Bruckner 7 I have, Walter with VPO, 1961, on LP. This is my second session with it in the past week. Hard to beat that 1st movement, musically, and I am starting to get the 2nd and 3 movements (what they might be, musically), but I still do not get how the 4th movement brings this symphony together, or closes it. Sure, it's great when the horns are going off, but I still do not hear that the 4th movement is "of a piece", despite I can hear the ways the themes go together. Do I need better sound, or better play, or is mine just a typical rookie response? No doubt others have heard this more often and thought it through more and better than I have, and I am interested to hear more on the subject. Paul S

03-28-2014 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree Paul S San Diego, California, USA Posts 2,657 Joined on 10-12-2006 Post #: 79 Post ID: 20684 Reply to: 20683 Not Approved Listening fiogf49gjkf0d Turns out that my only copy of B7 is Georg Solti/VPO, not Walter/VPO. And I see the Solti/VPO performance is not "on the list". I am not kidding when I say I presume there are few performances of this work worth listening to, and fewer that have all the parts together. I would still like to know what people think of the 4th movement, done right. Paul S

04-10-2014 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree steverino Posts 367 Joined on 05-23-2009 Post #: 80 Post ID: 20696 Reply to: 20684 B7 versions fiogf49gjkf0d Paul Since we all have different ears I can only give my preferences as anyone else would. Also I don't know your tastes well enough to be confident you would feel as I do. Caveats aside, I have the versions by Walter, Karajan, v.Matacic. Typically v Matacic played the altered versions of Bruckner but Bruckner was less neurotic about the Seventh than most of his other symphonies so there aren't 10 versions floating around. I'm sorry to offend Solti partisans, but his Bruckner seems very below average to me. Klemperer did the 7th too late and the orchestra is not too good either. It does not equal his great 6th or even the 4th and 5th. There are of course a number of live or historical performances but the three I mentioned are decently recorded analog.

04-28-2014 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree Paul S San Diego, California, USA Posts 2,657 Joined on 10-12-2006 Post #: 81 Post ID: 20741 Reply to: 20696 Solti Does Give "Closure" fiogf49gjkf0d Somehow I managed to orphan my 3rd/4th movement Q/A series in the Bruckner/Matacic thread. I just wanted to add here, properly, that my Solti/VPO performance does bring the whole B7, all movements, "together" via my system, when the electricity is great. In fact, I would recommend this performance to anyone under the conditions I heard it. Paul S

05-13-2014 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree Paul S San Diego, California, USA Posts 2,657 Joined on 10-12-2006 Post #: 82 Post ID: 20827 Reply to: 20741 From Memory fiogf49gjkf0d The way I remember it, before the good electricity the Solti/VPO LP performance seemed to move too quickly to "a certain spot", in terms of dynamics, and it did not seem to move off that spot enough on the appropriate occasions thereafter. With the excellent electricity, I could hear a lot more going on in terms of dynamics, LF, especially, including textures, and this plus a general "opening up" of the sound made me have a much better appreciation of the performance, and, above all, I came to appreciate both the performance and the piece. In other words, the performance was simply better when I could hear more of it better. Paul S