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Discussion: Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 - Ballot

Posts: 31
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Post by JohnProffitt November 7, 2014 (1 of 31)
This is the first multichannel (5.0), high resolution (24/96) recording of Bruckner Symphony 8, captured in public concert in the Stiftsbasilika St Florian, Austria -- Bruckner's own church and spiritual home throughout his life. It is reasonable to hear in Bruckner's symphonies the influences of the vast acoustic space of St Florian and its impressive pipe organ, and this recording attempts to reproduce that experience for the listener through the multichannel SACD.

The actual recording was made with five omnidirectional microphones, each feeding a separate channel of the digital recorder, with no additional mixing or equalization.

Post by Chris from Lafayette November 7, 2014 (2 of 31)
JohnProffitt said:

. . .

The actual recording was made with five omnidirectional microphones, each feeding a separate channel of the digital recorder, with no additional mixing or equalization.

I say, "Yeah!" But I just hope they got the microphones in the right places - with a minimalist set-up like this, you don't get second chances!

BTW, this was the approach taken with many of the recordings on the (defunct) Nishimura label - which IMHO contained some of the greatest engineering (even at 24/48) ever to make it to multichannel commercial disc. The recording of Mendelssohn's Lobgesang Symphony (conducted by Marcus Bosch) on this label completely floored me in its realism.

Post by JohnProffitt November 7, 2014 (3 of 31)
Well, I was "they" that placed the microphones, and I had three complete orchestral rehearsals to experiment with. So, I think the result is both honest to St Florian and complimentary to this fantastic orchestra -- average age of the musicians is 17!!

Post by Polarius T November 7, 2014 (4 of 31)

Post by Chris from Lafayette November 7, 2014 (5 of 31)
JohnProffitt said:

Well, I was "they" that placed the microphones, and I had three complete orchestral rehearsals to experiment with. So, I think the result is both honest to St Florian and complimentary to this fantastic orchestra -- average age of the musicians is 17!!

John - that's great! I will be eagerly looking forward to obtaining this set. When minimalist microphoning is done well, it just doesn't get any better than that!

Post by Chris from Lafayette November 7, 2014 (6 of 31)
Polarius T said:

YouTube sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-cKTO7-cpM#t=19

Thanks! My first impression is that the performance on the short YouTube excerpt is a bit slow and careful, but for the reasons in my post above, I will still be interested in obtaining this disc.

Post by JohnProffitt November 7, 2014 (7 of 31)
Chris from Lafayette said:

Thanks! My first impression is that the performance on the short YouTube excerpt is a bit slow and careful, but for the reasons in my post above, I will still be interested in obtaining this disc.

Ballot is definitely one of the most deliberate interpretations I know: total time is 1 hr. 43 min.

In several conversations with the Maestro, and listening to his coaching of the Orchester, Ballot emphasized his desire to match the musical performance to the unique acoustics of St Florian. To him this naturally resulted in slower tempos and a general tendency to "luxuriate" in the church's reverberation. The result will not be to everyone's taste, but it is IMO a compelling and well-thought-out interpretation.

Post by Cicero November 8, 2014 (8 of 31)
Honestly, as an interpretative concept this sounds odd to me. Whatever Bruckner's spiritual background and home, his symphonies were all written for and first performed in the concert hall, many of them, including the Eighth, in Vienna.

Of course, performances of Bruckner's symphonies have gotten slower and slower over time, particularly after 1960 ...

Post by tailspn November 8, 2014 (9 of 31)
JohnProffitt said:

Well, I was "they" that placed the microphones...

John, what microphones and recording equipment and format did yo use? Did you use an approximate ITU alignment?

Thanks, this is one of my favorite symphonies. And those Wagner Tubas :)

Post by armenian November 8, 2014 (10 of 31)
The 6 minute excerpt offered in that YouTube does not tell me much about this performance, is this SACD available? non of the on line classical retailer show this particular recording, I would not mind ordering this if it is priced same as a single SACD.

I also prefer not very slow interpretations, currently my favorite B8 is the 1996 recording with VPO/Pierre Boulez conducting, incidentally this performance is also recorded in the same St Florian with a well controlled reverberation that does not get out of hand.

Vahe

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