Composer of the Week - Anton Bruckner - Episode 1

This week Donald Macleod homes in on Bruckner’s time in Vienna, during which the composer produced his greatest and most enduring works. But although his symphonies exude power, confidence and surety of purpose, Bruckner himself was neurotic, obsessive and wracked by self-doubt. ‘Locus iste’, Gradual for 4-part choir (1869) Monteverdi Choir / John Eliot Gardiner (cond) DG 459 674-2, Track 9 ‘Pange lingua’, for 4-part choir (1868) Choir of St Bride’s Church Fleet Street / Robert Jones (cond) Naxos 8.550956, Track 9 Mass no.3 in F minor (1868) – Kyrie and Gloria Moderato Allegro – Andante, mehr Adagio (sehr langsam) – Tempo I – Ziemlich langsam Maria Stader (sop), Claudia Hellmann (alt), Ernst Häfliger (ten), Kim Borg (bass) / Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus / Anton Nowakowski (organ) / Eugen Jochum (cond) DG 447 409-2, CD 2 Tracks 4–5 Symphony no.4 in E flat major, ‘Romantic’ (1874) (Nowak version) – mvt 1 Bewegt, nicht zu schnell Vienna Philharmonic / Karl Böhm (cond) Decca 411581-2, Track 1