Budapest Festival Orch & Ivan Fischer - Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 (2014) [Official Digital Download 24/192]

In his time, Bruckner was understood and admired only within a small circle, a handful of advocates of his music, both pupils and Wagnerites. As Bruckner worked on the Adagio, the emotional heart of the Seventh Symphony, he heard news of the death of his idol Richard Wagner, and instantly decided to dedicate it to his remembrance.

This Symphony brought the composer's breakthrough in 1885, and until today it has remained the most frequently performed of Bruckner's nine symphonies. Bruckner is the saint, the tzadik, the bodhisattva, the guru among composers. He is the purest and most capable of religious ecstasy. Everything is seen with the clearest vision, built to majestic proportions and felt with deepest emotions. The first melody commences as if it were the purest ever written. But soon the notes of a simple E major triad of divine simplicity give way to a chromatic search surrounding the dominant note B with a deeply felt human desire. The melody seems to find its calm cadence, but it leaps up again, three times, aiming to attain yet higher ecstasy. And this is only the start.. Iván Fischer

Iván Fischer is founder and Music Director of the Budapest Festival Orchestra. This partnership has become one of the greatest success stories in the past 25 years of classical music. Intense international touring and a series of acclaimed recordings for Philips Classics, later for Channel Classics have contributed to Iván Fischers reputation as one of the worlds most visionary and successful orchestra leaders.

The works lithe and Bruckner don't tend to go together. Iván Fischer and his Budapest Festival Orchestra force you to break with habit. This account of the expansive Seventh Symphony is at once vigorous and lean. Dedicated to Wagner's patron, Ludwig II of Bavaria, it exists in countless famous recordings, some nearly 10 minutes longer than Fischer's. The Adagio is marked very solemnly and very slowly. Fischer skims over the very,increasing the pace and, in this clear, detailed performance, bringing a glowing transparency to the work. The sound quality is superb. It won't be to all tastes. It suits mine. –The Observer

I hadn't associated Iván Fischer with Bruckner.I don't think he has recorded any of his music before;certainly there are no recordings in the current UK catalogue.Even so,I have enjoyed many of his other recordings for Philips and more recently for Channel Classics.This new recording is one of his very best,on the same level as his Dvorák symphonies… this is a resounding success. –Musicweb - Recording Of The Month

TRACKLIST

Symphony no.7 in E major (1884)
01. I. Allegro moderato (18:40)
02. II. Adagio (18:38)
03. III. Scherzo: sehr schnell (9:03)
04. IV. Finale: bewegt, doch nicht schnell (10:23)