Review of Brucker Symphony No. 0

Artist:  Simone Young and Philharmoniker Hamburg.
Title:  Bruckner Symphony No. 0. in D minor, 1869, WAB 100.
Recording Studio:  Oehms Classics.
Copyright:  2012.

Symphony No. 0:

1.  Allegro.
2.  Andante.
3.  Scherzo Presto - Trio.
4.  Finale.  Moderato-Allegro vivace.

This is one of Anton Bruckner's first symphonies composed in 1869.  He was 45 when he composed this.  It didn't live up to his expectations.  He wrote "Null" on the score and donated it to an Austrian Abbey who kept the original manuscript.  Fortunately, we still have it.  The result is gorgeous music.

 Australian Simone Young and the Philharmoniker Hamburg are schooled in German Romantic music.  This recording shows it.  Recommended.

Listening to more Bruckner...

I sampled Simone Young and Hamburg Philharmonic on their recording of Bruckner's Symphony No. 0.  I'll put together a full review later this week.

Blake

Been listerning to Bruckner....

I loaded the CD player with Bruckner's Symphonies No. 1, No. 3, No. 4, and No. 8.  I've also listened to the Eroica Trio.  Never beauty and talent ever come together like them.

Review of Bruckner Symphonie No.8 by Karl Bohm and the Wiener Philharmoniker

Artist:  Karl Bohm and the Weiner Philharomiker.
Album:  Bruckner Symphonie No. 8.
Recording House:  Deutsche Gramophone.
Copyright: 1977.

Bruckner Symphonie No. 8.
1.  Allergo moderato
2.  Scherzo.  Allegro moderato
3.  Adiago.  Feierlich langsam; doch nicht schleppend
4.  Finale.  Feierlich, nicht schnell

This disc is over 80 minutes long.  It takes that long when performed live.  It's usually the only work on a particular program.  I fell in love with Bruckner by accident in the 1990s at Powell Hall.  I had season tickets and I heard Bruckner for the first time.

Afterward, I was hooked.  I bought 4 different Bruckner symphonies over New Years.  I think about 19th century European armies clashing in thunderous duels when I hear this music.  Bruckner, slave to the beast at Bayreuth, adored Wagner.  However, Bruckner's music is all his own.  He was middle age when he became a composer.  That helped the maturity of his symphonic works.  Bruckner was disparaged in his own lifetime as the "Austrian peasant composer."  Some of his earlier works weren't taken seriously because of his simple, devote Catholicism.

The ten symphonies make up for his more simplistic "Tu Deums."  Recommended.

Bruckner!

I bought four different Bruckner symphonies:  Symphonie No. 1; Symphonie No. 3; Symphonie No. 4; and Symphonie No. 8; over New Years.  I've been listening to Bruckner since then.  No. 4 is on my CD player.  I'd like to get more Bruckner CDs.

Alas, I've run out of room to store my discs.  I'll either have to get a new CD tower or get a CD book for my discs.  I'm now over 110 CDs.  I've download all my music digitally.  It takes up several GB.  I also have delved back into Joe Satriani.  Have his latest, Shockwave Supernova and Unstoppable Momentum.  I'll write more formal reviews, later.  I just wanted to update my blog after a several month absence...

Review of Lang Lang: Live in Vienna

Artist:  Lang Lang.
Album:  Live in Vienna.
Recording Company:  Sony Classical.
Copyright:  2010.

CD 1:
Beethoven:  Piano Sonata No. 3, Op. 2
Beethoven:  Piano Sonata No. 33, Op. 57 "Apassionata"

CD 2:
Albeniz:  Iberia, Book I
Prokofiev:  Piano Sonata No. 7, Op. 83
Chopin:  Etude Op. 25, No. 1
Chopin:  Polonaise No. 6, Op. 53 "Heroic"
Chopin:  Grande Valse brillante No. 2, Op. 34 No. 1

I enjoyed hearing Lang Lang live in Vienna.  My appreciation for piano music happened late for me.  Though I can't play a piano to save my life, I love those who mastered it.  Lang Lang has.  Recommended.

Goal: Yamaha double barreled French horn

I still want to get back to the French horn.  Being a writer is nice.  But it's not my long term goal.  That's still being able to play the French horn again.

In order to do that, I need to save up for a double barreled French horn.  They are expensive.  I should be able to set aside money for one.  But it'll take about four years worth of savings before I can purchase one.

That's a long time.  Maybe I can get published in the mean time and get some money to help make that purchase a reality...