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Newsletter - November 1, 2025

Newsletter - November 1, 2025

Newsletter - November 1, 2025
Welcome to the Newsletter from Abruckner.com!

As of October 31st the Discography Database and the Bruckner Archive Database have been updated. The underlined headlines below will take you to the various sections of the website where the bullet points below are featured. Please use these as guides to the new information offered since the last newsletter.

Newsletter - November 1, 2025

I recently listened to a performance of the Bruckner Symphony No. 9 that employed a novel solution to the issue of the Symphony missing its last movement.

I think that most readers of my newsletter already know my opinion of the Finale. I truly believe that Bruckner basically “painted himself into a corner” with the completion of the Symphony’s first three movements. From its opening bars, Bruckner immerses the listener into a cosmic space. The work immediately sets a tone like no other. The Scherzo, usually a playful dance-like movement, now become a macabre dance more suited to the images of Halloween than a summer dance. The Adagio is a work of heartbreaking sadness as Bruckner appears to be struggling with his own mortality. The catastrophe chord near the Adagio’s conclusion is something never before heard in the music of the time. Bruckner, with that one passage, has launched music into a new realm of expression and it shows his own anguish as he struggles with his approaching death. Yet the Adagio then ends in quiet resignation and peace. After those three movements, any other utterance is almost anti-climactic. What more can Bruckner say? For years he struggled with the Finale. He composed some glorious chorales, but how was he to cap off what he had already composed?

I have always enjoyed hearing the Finale conclusions and I appreciate the work of those who have labored to produce them. They give us an opportunity to hear the sketches as Bruckner left them and they have provided us with some interesting suggestions as to how it might have all been woven together. But, to me, they always sound like an extra appendage that really isn’t needed.

So, to the performance that I found so convincing: It was performed by Filipp Chizhevsky conducting the Svetlanov State Symphony Orchestra and the Sveshnikov State Academic Russian Choir. After the conclusion of the Adagio, Chizhevsky quickly turns around and cues the choir (situated behind the audience) to sing Bruckner’s Ave Maria (WAB 6) acapella. I’m not sure if the audience knew that the choir was there… At the conclusion of the motet, the choir sings “Amen” and the orchestra joins in for those last two notes thus giving the performance an orchestral conclusion. The beauty and peacefulness of the Ave Maria provided a very fitting conclusion to the performance and conveyed a sense of finality while maintaining the peacefulness of Bruckner’s closing bars of the Adagio.

Ever since the transfer of the Bruckner Archive to the Austrian National Library in Vienna, I have faced the challenge of keeping my archive database "Bruckner-all-compositions" up-to-date and accurately listing what is still housed in Connecticut. But in doing so, it eliminates from the listing all the recordings that have been transferred to Vienna. To help readers in their search for recordings, I have added the "Pre-Donation" datafile which lists every recording in the archive prior to the donation. Of course, that datafile is static and will not show any new releases. New releases will be reflected in the "Bruckner-all-compositions" datafile.

Please become a member of the Bruckner Society of America. For a $30.00 annual fee, you receive access to the Society's webpage archive and a subscription to the "Bruckner Journal." “The Bruckner Journal” (published three times a year), is now the official publication of the BSA. Each issue contains up to sixty pages of essays, recording and concert reviews and lists of upcoming concerts worldwide. Subscribe today at www.brucknersocietyamerica.org.


CASH REWARD FOR WANTED RECORDINGS. Click here for details.

LATEST NEWS AND POSTINGS

  • Any news about Bruckner that reaches my desk is posted here. After a while, interesting stories are moved to the FEATURES SECTION (below).


THE BRUCKNER ARCHIVE

  • The Bruckner Archive recording database (with over 10,400 listings) has been updated and it is easy to download as an Excel file. Many of these recordings are available to collectors and researchers. Contact me for details on how you can fill in some holes in your collection. The database is fully sortable including the ability to sort by performance date.

    As noted above, I have now added the "Pre-Donation" datafile which reflects what was held in the Archive prior to the donation of recordings to the Austrian National Library.


EDITOR'S SECTION

  • There are many subjects covered here. While the topics remain relatively static, the sections themselves are frequently updated, so make it a point to check out the various subjects under this heading.


NEW AND FEATURED RELEASES

  • A listing of new releases and exclusive recordings - many currently available in my webstore.


FUTURE RELEASES AND RECENT DISCOVERIES

  • A listing of future releases and recordings that have recently been discovered.


DOWNLOADS

  • A collection of wonderful downloads including scores and the always popular DOWNLOAD OF THE MONTH.


WEB STORE

  • The web store focuses on new Bruckner recordings and other Bruckner recordings that are not generally available. The store is divided up into sections for CDs and DVDs, books and scores, downloads, bargain samples and collectibles. Be sure to check out each section for new items. My focus is on new releases and hard-to-find items.



FEATURES

  • As stories in the LATEST NEWS AND POSTINGS section get older, those that are still relevant get moved into the FEATURES SECTION. There is a wealth of information here that you may have missed when they were first posted.


ARTICLES / GRAPHICS

  • Essays in English and other languages are entered as they are discovered or accepted.

  • New graphics (over 1,400) are frequently added.


PLEASE SUPPORT THIS SITE All the information provided on this site is available to you free-of-charge. But it is not free for me to get it to you. Recordings must be purchased as does the server space upon which this website is stored. There is an easy way for you to support this venture. Simply purchase recordings and other items in my web store. Purchases will support the ongoing expenses of operating this website.

Stay safe and happy listening!

John F. Berky