Takashi Asahina was the most officially-recorded Brucknerian. He enjoyed a cult status in Japan. His credential in Bruckner conducting was recognized in the West only a decade or so before his death at the age of 93 in December 2001, through his guest conducting appearance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He was much praised by the President of the Chicago SO, Henry Fogel.
I first encountered his Bruckner CDs when I went to Japan in the early 1990's. I was curious that one single conductor could have so many different versions of Bruckner's symphonies issued, and so I bought one and tried. It could be sensed that he was a Brucknerian with heart. The orchetral palette sounded very Teutonic, and there was a delicate balance within and between movements in terms of tempo and phrasings. And so began my long journey of collecting his CDs, which has been really arduous, to say the least of it.
Here is my collection, arranged by record labels and roughly in chronological order, so far:
Hi Horace,
ReplyDeleteVery impressive indeed! Its too bad that these recordings are darn near impossible to find here in the States.
Fred
Hi Fred,
ReplyDeleteThank you. If you'd like to sample some of Asahina's Bruckner recordings, you can try HMV Japan. They have an English version of the site.
Best wishes,
Horace
which complete bruchner-Takashi Asahina sets are the most definitive or the best?
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI've commented on his complete sets in another blog entry:
http://multivariate-life.blogspot.com/2010/11/more-on-takashi-asahina.html
Hope it can answer your question.
Regards,
Horace
recommend a japanese site or any other site import cd sites that is price friendly to american buyers and carry these large complete box sets? I am having a tough time understanding text on japan amazon
ReplyDeleteI bought all the Asahina boxsets in Japan. The Canyon and JVC sets are apparently out of print now. Jean-Jean reissued its set a few years ago but again has apparently been sold out.
ReplyDeleteI find www.hmv.co.jp quite user-friendly in its English site and the price is sometimes very competitive particularly with its Multibuy discouts.
Hope it helps.