Bruckner - Symphony No. 8 / Mehta, Israel Philharmonic

Amazon.com

Listening to Bruckner's monumental Eighth Symphony, here running some 88 minutes, is like scaling Everest. The summit doesn't come into sight until well into the third, slow movement, then it's not until the third approach via other vistas that we arrive with a clash of cymbals at the peak. En route there are diversions into Alpine meadows where it's not too fanciful to suggest edelweiss is in flower. Zubin Mehta recorded Bruckner's Ninth Symphony early on in his career, but neither his name nor that of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra has been much associated with the Austrian composer. In this 1987 performance, Mehta pleads and cajoles his orchestra to give their all, but ultimately the demands of the music and the unsympathetic acoustic of the Alte Oper Frankfurt defeat them. One senses that the conductor's forward pacing of the music takes its toll on the precision within the huge waves of sound Bruckner launches throughout the work. --Adrian Edwards

Description

A live 1987 recording from the Alte Oper Frankfurt. Internationally acclaimed Indian conductor Zubin Mehta conducts the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in the four movements of Anton Bruckner's massive Symphony No. 8. 87 minutes.

Customer Reviews:

Zubin Mehta saves the day.......2006-06-24

The other reviewers are correct. This is not the best possible Bruckner 8th. Yet it has one exceptional good point: Zubin Mehta seems passionately involved in this performance.

Whatever shortcomings this performance may have, we can certainly not fault Mehta's enthusiasm. He begins the concert very crisply attired, but by the end of the Adagio movement, he is already sopping wet. The finale pushes him to the limits of human endurance.

In spite of the various negative comments others have made, this is still a moving Bruckner, and the Frankfurt audience appreciated it. The applause continued for many minutes after the music had ended.

Yes, there are better performances (Karajan with the Vienna Philharmonic) but, if you enjoy Bruckner, or Zubin Mehta, you will still find much to enjoy in this performance.

nothing wrong.......2005-09-27

I didn't find anything wrong with this perfomance. You can like it or not, but it's very good and highly professional.

Not worth to make a DVD out of it.......2005-06-18

I would not say it the way others do in reviews, an orchestra that is not from german speaking soil can shure play Bruckner as good as a Berlin Philarmonic. The problem with this orchestra from Israel is that it simply is not a top level orchestra. When I hear the many missed tones from the brass section (the wagner tubas even miss the tones in the first measures) and the bad pitch of the strings, I would say for an amateur-village-orchestra they play pretty good. The conductor swings his lower jaw around it seems he could loose it any moment. His conducting is very theatralic, I dont understand much about conducting but he does not make a good impression.

Not this one, buy the Herbert Von Karajan instead ! .......2005-06-08

This is NOT nearly as good a perfomance as the SONY DVD with
Herbert Von Karajan conducting the Weiner Philhrmonic. Zuben Mehta must have been sick that day, and coughes as crutial moments. The Israel Philharmonic plays timidly, when majestic playing is required: THEY SEEM LIKE THEY JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING ! The Wiener Philharmonic is TRUELY better able to handle Brucker, and Karajan IS the "papa" of recording this kind of music.

Shallow reading........2002-09-01

At the risk of sounding nationalistic. I have always felt that Bruckner was best served by conductors of the Austro/German pedigree. And this DVD of the 8th by the Israel PO and Mehta goes a long way to prove my point. In a nutshell, Mehta has no grasp of the music and certainly has nothing credible to transmit to the orchestra. All in all, a waste of time.
I hear that Sony is preparing their immensely valuable recordings of Celibidache's 6, 7 and 8th Bruckner symphonies for release on DVD.

DVD:

DVD

DVD