Credits:

Thurston Dart

Description:

This is the sixth volume of the 10-volume organ edition of Bruckner's complete symphonies, a commemorative project for the 200th anniversary of Bruckner's birth in 2024. Symphony No. 5 is notable among Bruckner's complete symphonies for its use of chorale-like melodies and counterpoint, and it has a church-music-like beatitude throughout. One can imagine that it would sound great played on the organ, and Erwin Horn's arrangement and Hans-Jörg Albrecht's performance live up to that expectation. The organ's varied stops are used to great effect without being showy, and the music's long, uplifting breath is beautifully captured in the sound. The organ's distinctive fullness and weighty sound, which is different from the instantaneous sound of string pizzicato, adds a unique flavor to this piece. The Symphony No. 5 was first performed in Graz in 1894 under the baton of Franz Schalk, who conducted the "revised" version, but the original version based on Bruckner's autograph score was premiered in Munich in 1935, more than 40 years later. The organ of St. Margarete Church in Munich was chosen for the recording. Naxos Japan