I believe I mentioned once that I experienced LIVE (front-row center) in the Cathedral in Speyer the Ninth conducted (in 1972) by Celebidache with the Stadtsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz. He had to take it pretty slowly because of the echo! The Scherzo was mind-blowing---a wonderful experience! Karajan/BPO/DG. Tintner/Irish National Orch, Naxos. The much longer original, with scherzo first and adagio second. Interesting, but not quite as structurally coherent. By now it will be fairly obvious that Järvi’s Seventh is the more convincing; but Norrington’s sense of daring, his energy and conviction, and the way he inspires his players to focus exactly the performance he wants has a huge appeal. In a sense what we have here are two quite different symphonies, and the great virtue of Norrington’s is that no one knows it – yet. Wildner’s conviction is immediately apparent in the first movement: Listen as he builds the opening’s two great climaxes with arresting force, then infuses the following lyrical second subject with an ingratiating warmth. Fine as the first movement is, it’s actually the Adagio and Finale that benefit most from Wildner’s probing conducting, as both movements sound with a rare formal coherence married to dramatic impact. As a bonus, the first disc of this double set also includes the composer’s intermediate version (1876) of the Adagio. The violin solo ... in duple quarters and duple eighths, ... together with the rhythmic complexities already caused by the shift from sextuplets to quintuplets in the first violins, ... must have created an amazingly detailed sound – not to say an impenetrable musical fog." [7] In the coda, the solo horn, which was considered unplayable by the horn-player, was replaced by the first clarinet and the viola section.

So, what, you ask, prithee about the review of these discs?? Good question. Well, let me begin by telling you that whenever I listen to the 'main theme' of the first movement, which opens and closes it, for some reason I envision Laurence of Arabia riding his camel across an Arabian desert. I don't explain them, I just report them. I love it. The insert notes in the discs above range from puzzling in the Arte Nova to 'must read' in the Naxos. The Arte Nova disc's, written by Doris Lipka, indicate that the 6 th is marked, "Pastorale" on the score. Odd, I haven't come across that bit of information before. Could you give an example or two of music actually composed by Haas, not just retrieved by him from the unrevised first version? I'd be very interested to know. This new Eighth is exceptionally fine. When in the Scherzo you sense that the mountains tllemselves are beginning to dance, you know you are onto a good thing; on this occasion, Olympus itself seems to have caught the terpsichorean bug, Not that anything is exaggerated or overblown. After all these years, Wand knows where each peak is and how best to approach it. His reading is broader than it was 20 years ago, which is perhaps just as well given the Berliners' own predilections, yet nowhere is there any sense of unwanted stasis.' Richard OsborneIn his distinguished booklet essay, the Italian writer and broadcaster Oreste Bossini speaks of the performance’s polyphonic transparency and the naturalness and fluidity of its pacing. Even in the

In his edition Carragan put the crossed-out second half of section 2 of the slow movement (bars 48–69) as optional, explaining, "In my edition of the Second I kept that music in the score, and borrowing from Haas marked it with a 'vide', to be retained at the conductor's option. In the preface I point out that if the pure 1877 version of the symphony is desired, the cut must be made, but some conductors are keeping the music and in my opinion as a listener, the effect is better." [4] 1892 edition [ edit ] Perhaps the greatest of all recordings of the work, spacious, involved, profoundly human. So persuasive is Giulini’s interpretation, it makes it almost impossible to take seriously the attempt at a more detached, monumental approach found in Daniel Barenboim’s more recent Teldec performance. Giulini’s ability to convey fervour without sentimentality is little short of miraculous, and it’s clear from the way the early stages of the first movement effortlessly project an ideal balance between the lyrical and the dramatic that this reading will be exceptional. The recording might not have the dynamic range of current digital issues, and resonance can sound rather artificial in louder passages. There’s also an obtrusive extension of the trumpet triplets seven bars before the end of the first movement. But such things count for less than nothing in the face of a performance which culminates in a finale of such glowing spontaneity you could almost believe that the orchestra are playing it for the first time, and that neither they (nor any other orchestra) will ever play it better. Järvi offers an extremely beautiful performance, responsively played and, most crucially, sensitive to key transitions. There are many subtleties, while the finale’s angrily strutting second set will have your woofers quaking. Incidentally, in Järvi’s Adagio those hymn-like string chords are mightily sonorous and the no-holds-barred climax – with percussion this time – is extremely effective though the ritardando 'in' is perhaps a mite excessive. I agree that the BPO does a wonderful job in the fourth, but I would go with the Jocum/DG and Karajan/EMI recordings that they made. I prefer the former for a more aggressive approach, and the latter is IMO better than the Bohm/VPO recording for something a bit slower and more reverential in approach. This exceptional recording by veteran Austrian conductor Georg Tintner is in a league of its own. It's a beautifully shaped performance, characterfully played and vividly recorded.Abbado’s reading of the vast first movement is in time but not entirely of it. On occasion the pulse hangs by a thread. Yet it is a thread that never breaks, like a life that has peaks yet to climb before it makes its quietus. What's appealing about the 'full monty' is the feeling it gives of the symphony's Schubertian pedigree: heavenly length joining hands with a deep sense of melancholy and melodic Angst. Daniel Barenboim conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, 1997 (using a pre-publ. Carragan ed.) - Teldec CD 3984 21485-2 As a child he was a singer in the Vienna Boys' Choir, the first Jew ever to be accepted; [1] at that time the choir was directed by Franz Schalk. At the Vienna State Academy he studied composition with Joseph Marx and conducting with Felix Weingartner. Soon he was assistant conductor of the Vienna Volksoper.