Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 London Philharmonic Orchestra & Stanislaw Skrowaczewski

• Anton Bruckner (1824 - 1896): Symphony No. 7 in E Major, WAB 107:
• 1 Symphony No. 7 in E Major, WAB 107: I. Allegro moderato 21:52
• 2 Symphony No. 7 in E Major, WAB 107: II. Adagio. Sehr feierlich und sehr langsam 24:22
• 3 Symphony No. 7 in E Major, WAB 107: III. Scherzo. Sehr schnell - Trio. Etwas langsamer 09:49
• 4 Symphony No. 7 in E Major, WAB 107: IV. Finale. Bewegt, doch nicht schnell 12:51
• Total Runtime 01:08:54

Info for Bruckner: Symphony No. 7

‘To me, Bruckner is one of the greatest composers,’ says conductor Stanisław Skrowaczewski. ‘He is another Mozart: his music is magical ... its message speaks about the infinite, transcendental cosmos, God, timelessness, love and tragedy.’ The opening melody of Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony apparently came to the composer in a dream: a friend from Bruckner’s younger days played the theme on a viola, with the words: ‘This will bring you success’. If this is true it was prophetic: the work was one of the greatest successes of the composer’s career.

Stanisław Skrowaczewski is regarded as one of today’s greatest living Bruckner conductors. Now in his 90th year, he brings a lifetime’s accumulated wisdom to this work.

This Symphony had a life-changing significance for Skrowaczewski. Aged seven, he heard some distinctive but unfamiliar music drifting out of the upstairs window of a house he passed, to dramatic effect: ‘It was such an impression that I became really out of my mind ... I had a high temperature, so all this proves really deep shock – and this stays forever’. This was Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7. In 2011 Skrowaczewski’s biography was published: Seeking the Infinite by Frederick Edward Harris Jr., in which the conductor discusses at length his lifelong devotion to the music of Bruckner.

This performance is of Skrowaczewski’s own edition, based on the Haas edition but including the triangle and cymbal clash at the climax of the Adagio.

"Older conductors have a knack of searching out the metaphysical in Bruckner...Tempi are wonderfully sustained – “old” does not always mean “slow” – and climaxes are reached patiently and lyrically, if not always with optimal intensity." (Financial Times)

"The playing is fine throughout - an orchestra truly listening, in the chamber-music sense of the word...It's not the kind of performance that will stop you in your tracks but it has a quiet dignity and integrity, and one is left in no doubt that the man on the podium comes with a wealth of experience and is in love with every bar." (Gramophone Magazine)

"anyone acquiring this new budget recording is unlikely to be disappointed." (MusicWeb International)

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Stanisław Skrowaczewski, conductor

No biography found.

Booklet for Bruckner: Symphony No. 7