The facebook format/environment does not lend itself to deep/meaningful/philosophical conversations and in my music links I have (on the whole) limited what I have shared to shorter/lighter/easily-digestible 😂 music.
That means that there are a number of pieces of music that have not yet made an appearance despite being very high on my list of favourites. So – on mammoth Mondays I am going to share a few of those that have been previously omitted. of course you can still just listen to bits of it but there are some larger scale pieces of music that I think are worth spending some time appreciating.
When I shared album covers (way back then before I got this idea….) the very first one was Bruckner’s 7th Symphony. No matter how often I listen to this – when it finishes I am always in a “better place”! I bought this record from a little 2nd hand record shop in Glasgow – it was a complete experiment as at that time I had heard none of Bruckner’s music so I had no preconceptions at all about this work. Ever since then – and that must have been over 50 years ago…. – this symphony has been a favourite.
I do not have a top ten or top 20 or whatever because the “best” music is always dependent on context, but I don’t think there is ever a wrong context for this symphony. The recording that I have linked is the same one that I bought all those years ago – I still have the record. (and I still almost expect the break in the second movement when you had to turn the record over 😂)
….. and yes, this recording does have the much debated cymbal clash – whenever I am faced with a percussion part with not much to do I always console myself with “at least I am not the cymbal player in Bruckner 7”!
Anton Bruckner : Symphony No.7
Comments :
Paul Dickens
Decca Eclipse Label? I had that recording too although as I’ve got older I’ve listened to Bruckner much less!
George McConnell
That is correct – and I still have it!! I listened to it so much that it is pretty much in my head now – don’t actually need the recording!! I still would rank Bruckner as my ‘favourite’ composer – given the caveat I used about favourite music above!
Paul Dickens
I seem to go through spells of different “favourites”. Right now it’s Herbert Howells but I always end up coming back to Bach (to coin a phrase 😃)
George R McConnell
For those not familiar with it – here is the cymbal/triangle part for the symphony. 😂😂😲
