Post by Willem OrangeI don't know this symphony but recently read some reviews of recent recordings which spurred me on to investigate - any recommendations from those who are familiar with it????
According to this:
Recordings of Bruckner’s Sixth Symphony
There are some excellent recordings of the underperformed but likable Sixth Symphony, which the BSO will be performing in mid-April. I love von Karajan’s recording from his box set (although for some this would be a controversial choice), but given the cost of the individual disc, it would be more affordable to spend a few dollars more and get the whole box set. Blomstedt’s recording with the Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestra (his second of this symphony) is a wonderful performance in excellent SACD sound. Horst Stein’s performance of the Sixth with the Vienna Philharmonic is also deservedly well-loved. Two other performances are wonderful but not available as standalone recordings: Heinz Bongartz and the Leipzig Gewandhaus (albeit in vintage 1964 Eastern Bloc sound), and Eugen Jochum and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (included in Jochum’s first Bruckner cycle on DG).
My picks
(* denotes a definitive performance)
1*: Eugen Jochum, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO), DG: A legendary performance that deserves its accolades, and that still makes the jaw drop 50+ years later.
2*: Herbert von Karajan, BPO, DG: The greatest performance this symphony will ever receive, revealing a profound, deeply moving masterpiece that most others just miss.
3*: Remy Ballot, Altomonte Orchester St. Florian, Gramola: An extreme interpretation of the original 1873 version (running nearly 90 minutes), not universally beloved, yet which stuns me.
4*: Herbert von Karajan, BPO, DG: There are many great Fourths out there, but Karajan gives us a reading that is perfect and profoundly moving. Listen to the BPO play—wow!
5: (tie) Herbert von Karajan, BPO, DG and Eugen Jochum, Concertgebouw (live 1986), Tahra: Both are truly great performances of this monumental work. Unlike most, they nail the key second movement.
6: (tie) Heinz Bongartz, Leipzig Gewandhaus (various labels) and Herbert von Karajan, BPO, DG: I have yet to hear a perfect Sixth, but both of these come closer than any others.
7: Herbert von Karajan, BPO, Warner/EMI (remastered version): Karajan’s first recording stands apart due to a slightly slower tempo that produces greater intensity, and impressive sonics in its remastered sound (recorded 1971 in the Jesus-Christus church in Berlin).
8: Herbert von Karajan, Vienna Philharmonic (VPO), DG: From the mid-1950s onward, Karajan performed the Eighth (his favorite) every single year, somewhere, until he died. This recording of it, made in Vienna just months before he passed away, is perhaps the best.
9*: Carlo Maria Giulini, Vienna Philharmonic, DG: Yannick Nezet-Seguin, among others, has called this the greatest recording of any work ever made by anyone. It is a performance for the ages of the horrible, beautiful, magnificent, disturbing, profound journey that is Bruckner’s visionary Ninth Symphony. But to be sure, the work is not recommended as a starting point into Bruckner. Come to it only after you’ve digested several others, including at least the Seventh.
https://www.classical-scene.com/2017/04/06/bruckner-lofty/