CD6/2009:

CD6/2009

Bruckner: Symphony no 7

Berliner Staatskapelle Orchestra

Kurt Masur

The Royal Festival Hall, London

Recording: 17th November 1967

Bruckner Discography

“The performance is excellent and the sound for its day is superb.”
John F. Berky, Editor, Anton Bruckner Symphony Versions Discography, October 2009

Fanfare

“This 1967 Seventh differs from Masur’s other accounts in its greater spontaneity and the exceptionally vivid quality of its recorded sound … if you are seeking to have a memento of Masur’s Bruckner at its most appealing, this CD is the way to go.”
Jeffrey J. Lipscomb, Fanfare 33:5, May/June 2010

MusicWeb International

“[W]e must give serious consideration to the frisson of this live London performance … There are […] strong reasons interpretatively to prefer this 1967 reading and, with highly sympathetic sound into the bargain, Masur admirers have now found another reason to acquaint themselves with this performance.”

“Once again [Orchestral Concert CDs] shows that a simple yet optimum recorded set-up can deal very nicely indeed with even a problem venue such as this.”
Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International, June 2010

“This is Bruckner at his most lyrical, radiant and powerful. Kurt Masur and his great orchestra miss none of those characteristics … Here the Berlin Staatskapelle turns in a blazingly intense performance that rightfully brings cheers from the attentive audience. The great Adagio is given rendered particularly movingly by a conductor who seems to have been one of the great Bruckner masters. He handles all the strange transitions and pauses with a natural ease that has not always been achieved by interpreters. This entire performance just sounds right.”

“I am in debt to Geoffrey Terry for preserving such an impressive performance … [The Berlin Staatskapelle] sounded as wonderful back in the 1960s as they did [in recent years], also at the Royal Festival Hall, also playing Bruckner. No studio recording exists of them with Masur in this work, so this live version is the more welcome.”
Dave Billinge, MusicWeb International, July 2018

International Record Review

“This is a cogent, unmannered reading that makes its considerable impact through unflashy musicianship, a fine sense of Brucknerian symphonic trajectory and a refined ear for inner detail and the colours of the composer’s orchestration. The sound of this live recording is clean and clear – like a very good broadcast from the period. Masur’s conducting of this symphony has remained remarkably consistent and is extremely satisfying … This is a most rewarding disc.”
Nigel Simeone, International Record Review, June 2012

Track listingTime
Anton Bruckner: Symphony no 7 in E major63' 30"
1  I Allegro moderato19' 15"
2 II Adagio: Sehr feierlich und sehr langsam22' 12"
3III Scherzo: Sehr schnell – Trio: Etwas langsamer9' 28"
4 IV Finale: Bewegt, doch nicht schnell*12' 34"
Total time:63' 30"

*Sample extract (control with the Sound Sample tab at the top of the page)

†This track may be heard on the Sampler CD