Symphony No. 8 in C minor

Anton Bruckner

Recordings

Top Choice

Gunter Wand / Berlin Philharmonic

2001 Live recording

Gil's first recommendation. Wand 'let the music unfold naturally.' Gil describes it as having 'beautiful eloquence... inevitability... gorgeous' and 'seductive' sound.

Also Worth Hearing

Gunter Wand / North German Radio Symphony

1987 Live recording

'Special for its intensity.' It has a 'hushed intensity' and 'really powerful' big climaxes.

Herbert von Karajan / Berlin Philharmonic

1975

Gil's preference over the more famous 1988 version. It has an 'immaculate understanding of the architecture' and 'palpable concentration and intensity.'

Herbert von Karajan / Vienna Philharmonic

1988

'Maybe Karajan's most celebrated recording.' Gil finds it 'a little bit lacking in energy and concentration' compared to the 1975 version, but acknowledges it's 'definitely a powerful one.'

Carlo Maria Giulini / Vienna Philharmonic

1984

'Excellent digital sound.' A 'patient, spiritual' performance with 'longer... slower tempos, which works very well... power and majesty.'

Karl Böhm / Vienna Philharmonic

c. 1976

'This way that just sounds natural. The beauty of the Vienna Philharmonic, the sound quality.'

Pierre Boulez / Vienna Philharmonic

1996

'Very alert... incisive, very sharp, very tight... very powerful while also being musical and beautiful.' Good if you find Bruckner 'meandering.'

Christian Thielemann / Vienna Philharmonic

c. 2018-2019

A 'slow building' performance with a 'more round, less incisively sharp' sound. Thielemann 'patiently, very powerfully' builds climaxes.

Wilhelm Furtwängler / Vienna Philharmonic

1944

Gil's 'Desert Island, Bruckner 8th.' The sound is 'actually really good for 1944.' He calls it 'one of those intense, hypnotic performances... just a devastating performance.'