It's really nice to do some housekeeping from time to time. In the case of my Bruckner recordings collection, it provides an opportunity for me to meet my old friends so to speak, e.g. Schuricht's EMI recordings, van Beinum's, and revisit some relatively new ones.
For all lists, there are bound to be some omissions considered blatant and of course inclusions considered illaudable or even downright third-rate by "those in the know". I'd be the least disturbed by these. I believe everyone's choices should be respected so long as there is no intent of malice or discrimination. This is indeed the true beauty of freedom of speech. One example is Kurt Sanderling's Bruckner 7th on Hänssler, which I consider one of my best loved Bruckner 7th recordings. The Gramophone review written by their famous Bruckner reviewer Richard Osborne, however, just showed his dislike of this recording, and concluded with this statement, "Even if it was being offered gratis I would probably grudge it shelfroom." (transl.「就算這是免費贈送，我也可能不願騰出櫃裏空間放置它。」) So there you are. Please take my choices and opinion with a grain of salt!
There are some recordings by a few conductors which I think do not belong to the list of favourite individual symphonies; they are considered en bloc, with good reasons. Georg Tintner is one of them. To be honest, not many will remember the exact name of the orchestras with whom he recorded his Bruckner symphonies, and thus in a sense Tintner "single-handedly" made a name for himself as a reverential Brucknerian. It is his special way of Brucknerian music making that runs through all of his Bruckner recordings. This personal imprint also applies to Furtwängler, "the special one", and Celibidache in his Munich years. Those recordings are all marked by their unmistakable personal stamps. They are in a league of their own. I'm not saying that theirs are all better than other Bruckner recordings, but comparing them with others is almost pointless, so these 3 "groups" will not be included in the favourite list even if I like them very much.
Günter Wand is another special case. He has too many Bruckner recordings to love them all. However, his recordings with the Berlin Philharmonic formed an integral part of his Indian Summer legacy and also of my unforgettable experience, over the years, of dying-for anticipation of the next release to come. Having been issued in the SACD format lately, these five symphonies have secured a firm place in my heart and my shelf.
Happy listening to all Brucknerites.
Dear Horace: i think hansller's recording did not captured the best part of sanderling's performance, the beautiful soundscape, as his weitblick brahms 4th shows. but judging from surface it is still to me a good one. i think he understand bruckner. it will be a fantastic experience if the sound is good and i can understand his whole image about bruckner ><
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