About this Artist

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Editorial Reviews

Carlo Maria Giulini recorded Bruckner's "Symphony No. 9" with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for Angel in 1976, and that album has long been considered a superb achievement and difficult to surpass. Yet Giulini's 1988 performance with the Vienna Philharmonic matches the older recording in every important detail and exceeds expectations by sounding richer in the digital format. As wonderful as Chicago's sound was, the Vienna Philharmonic offers more varied and subtle timbres, a result of its long history of Bruckner performances. Using the Nowak edition, Giulini takes this unfinished symphony into dark places, making it the full realization of the Romantic idea of Sturm und Drang. The opening movement is one of Bruckner's most commanding essays in sonata form. Through its explicit parallels with Beethoven's "Ninth," Bruckner clearly points to his source of inspiration. The terrifying Scherzo, with its stacked dissonances and pounding rhythms, creates a mood of violence and instability that the nervous Trio does little to alleviate. Resolution -- indeed, an apotheosis -- comes in the glorious Adagio. Giulini elicits the most sumptuous sounds from the orchestra, particularly in the ecstatic opening measures. After hearing this movement, any thought of adding a finale must seem pointless, for this is a sublime valedictory and nothing more is needed. Blair Sanderson, All Music Guide

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