A really impressive addition to the Bruckner discography: three of the most popular symphonies recorded from live performances in excellent sound and including a splendid realisation of the Carragan completion of the fourth movement of the Ninth. © 2012 MusicWeb International

Significant Bruckner releases over the past year have included recordings of his Ninth Symphony with two different completions of the Finale, in their latest and apparently final revisions. Gerd Schaller, leading Philharmonie Festiva (Profil), uses Bruckner scholar William Carragan’s version; Simon Rattle, with the Berlin Philharmonic (EMI), performs the completion by the team of Nicola Samale, Giuseppe Mazzuca, John A. Phillips, and Benjamin-Gunnar Cohrs. These recordings probably get as close as will ever be possible to revealing what Bruckner envisioned for a conclusion to his final work and as such are indispensable to the ardent Brucknerian. Fortunately, they also offer fine performances of the three completed movements of this towering work. Rattle’s is especially notable for its wealth of instrumental detail, while Schaller’s is the more integrated and smoothly flowing of the two. Schaller’s set (which I reviewed in detail in Fanfare 35:4) also offers excellent renditions of the Fourth and Seventh symphonies. © 2012 Fanfare