Customer Reviews

Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 - World Philharmonic Orchestra/Carlo Maria Giulini

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I admit straight away to having "an interest" in this recording. It was of the inaugural performance of the World Philharmonic Orchestra, in Stockholm in December 1985, the members being drawn from top orchestras from round the world, and my wife, an oboist, was representing her orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO). Since it was a performance for charity, all the players and conductor gave their services without fee, (their expenses being met by a variety of sponsors, the main one being SAS, the Scandinavian Airline). Carlo Maria Giulini had been invited to conduct and they (the orchestra and he) spent a week in snowy Stockholm, getting to know each other before the performance. As to the performance itself? Inevitably the initial rehearsals were somewhat chaotic, since wind and brass sections were made up of players not just from different cultural backgrounds - for example, western European oboists, eastern European horns and clarinets, all accustomed to different pitch, and using different traditions of vibrato, but some sections without a first or even second common language. (Sign language came to the rescue on several ocasions, by all accounts!). Then there was the small issue of a violin section consisting of 16 concertmasters from all over, each of whom had his or her idea of how to lead the piece! However by the time of the actual performance, all these cultural issues had been melded into a really memorable performance, which is what we have on this DVD - a unique sound record of some very special musical moments for many of the players, and for the listeners.

I truly adore Carlo Maria Giulini, especially his later recordings and performances, but this is a very shallow interpretation of this momumental masterpiece (one of my favorite compositions). I'm sure it has to do with the fact that there were limited rehearsals from musicians coming from all over the globe, because Giulini's other performance (on DG, on CD) is absolutely astonishing.