Wiener Philharmoniker, Wilhelm Furtwangler - Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 (2010)

This 1944 recording would appear to be a live concert performance, broadcast from the Großer Saal at the Musikverein in Vienna and recorded onto tape. I say "would appear to be" not because I doubt the frequently repeated assertions of these facts, but merely because there is no evidence whatsoever of the presence of an audience, something which is also usually noted. I can only assume, therefore, that the orchestra was playing to an empty hall.

Whatever the precise details of its prevenance, this hardly detracts from what many consider to be this work's finest recorded rendition - though some prefer his 1949 BPO Berlin accounts, many find his wartime reading has a little something extra about it which elevates it even higher than his later magnificent readings. Whichever way you lean, however, there's no doubt that this is one of the best ever Bruckner Eighths, and I've worked hard to bring out its full glory in this XR remastering.

The original recording was somewhat uneven - it appears that some of the tape reels were either better recorded in the first place or have survived the test of time better. Hiss levels vary considerably, and the first reel suffers some high-end distortion, heard in loud high brass and string tuttis, which is not present later in the recording - I've tried to control this as much as possible, but one may detect its presence at about 5 minutes into the first movement, and its absence at about ten and a half minutes into the second, where the brass is crisper and cleaner. There was also some minor pitch variation between reels, which I've attempted to even out.

Overall, however, the sonic transformation of the rather cramped 1944 original in this remastering is quite remarkable and dramatic, and gives a much better idea of what the performance must have actually sounded than ever before.