(This HMV Review is for new items and is only for reference. Novelty will NOT be available for used items despite mentioned bellow.)
If you are a music scholar and period practice specialist, as Nikolaus Harnoncourt is, and you want to perform Bruckner, then you must use the Vienna Philharmonic, for in many ways it is the original authentic instrument group, imposing strict standards not only on the players but on the specific instruments they play, which must be of certain types, sizes and makes in order to preserve the unique sound that has long made the VPO the unrivalled master of nineteenth-century Austro-German symphonic repertoire. It is the ideal Bruckner sound and Harnoncourt has them produce it in all its native splendor in this thoughtful performance, characterized by subtlety and attention to detail rather than high drama or interpretive extremes. It is a novel approach, a gentler, more delicate Bruckner than one usually hears, and makes for provocative listening.
