Bruckner: The Nine Symphonies

The Vienna Philharmonic's distinguished Bruckner tradition, documented through a series of superb Decca recordings from the 1960s and 70s on a Limited Edition 9-CD box set, with Original Jackets.

This Decca 'Vienna Philharmonic Bruckner cycle' was a huge commercial success when released as a CD set in Japan. It has only otherwise been available within a 65-CD box, and this Eloquence issue marks its first international release. Founded in 1842, the Vienna Philharmonic gave a notoriously dusty reception to Bruckner's Third when they played through it in rehearsal in 1874 and refused to perform it in concert. Three years later the composer conducted them in the premiere of the symphony's revised version; though the occasion was a fiasco, it earned Bruckner the lifelong admiration of Gustav Mahler, who was present as a student. The orchestra is now proud to present Bruckner's symphonies all over the world, but No.1 was little known, at least outside Austria and Germany, when the young Claudio Abbado made this incandescent recording in 1969.