Following their recordings on Alpha Classics of Bruckner’s Symphonies Nos.7 (Diapason d’Or) and 8 (awarded “best symphonic recording of the year” at the International Classical Music Awards), Paavo Jarvi and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich conclude their tribute to the Austrian composer in this bicentenary year with a recording of his 9th symphony.
The orchestra’s history has been closely linked to Bruckner since it gave the first Swiss performance of one of his symphonies under Richard Strauss in 1903. “The great classical and romantic tradition of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich make it ideally suited to Bruckner, the central composer for modern symphony orchestras,” says Paavo Jarvi. Bruckner composed this musical farewell (he wrote the words “a farewell to life” in the score) in his final years; legend has it that he was still working on the symphony on the day he died.
Reviewing the recording prior to release, columnist Colin Anderson wrote “Paavo Järvi and his splendid orchestra, captured in first-class sound, plot a course through the work that is direct yet with a flexibility that has a thought-through logic to it, whether impetuous or reflecting, Järvi alive to the music’s adventuring.”
More about this release here