# Bruckner-obsessed



## mathisdermaler (Mar 29, 2017)

I am obsessed with Bruckner. His music (symphonies, masses, motets, string quintet, other pieces) is so profound. These days I listen almost exclusively to him.

So, I'm looking for recommendations based on my obsession. I already love Wagner and don't love Mahler, so please recommend other composers or pieces. Thank you.


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## bharbeke (Mar 4, 2013)

Have you tried Richard Strauss or Dmitri Shostakovich?


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

Martucci, Schmidt, Furtwangler's symphonies


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## helenora (Sep 13, 2015)

mathisdermaler said:


> I am obsessed with Bruckner. His music (symphonies, masses, motets, string quintet, other pieces) is so profound. These days I listen almost exclusively to him.
> 
> So, I'm looking for recommendations based on my obsession. I already love Wagner and don't love Mahler, so please recommend other composers or pieces. Thank you.


Bruckner is unbeatable. I could recommend you JS Bach , his works contain everything, including somewhat of Bruckner , but not to destroy the thread which I liked very much, I'd rather recommend you nothing, because Bruckner is great as it is.
but somehow for me his music has inner connection with old masters from Baroque era.


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

mathisdermaler said:


> I am obsessed with Bruckner. His music (symphonies, masses, motets, string quintet, other pieces) is so profound. These days I listen almost exclusively to him.
> 
> So, I'm looking for recommendations based on my obsession. I already love Wagner and don't love Mahler, so please recommend other composers or pieces. Thank you.


A couple of guys named Beethoven and Schubert might be of interest. AB was reported to have liked their music. His nemesis Johannes Brahms might be worth a giggle


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Magnard was called the French Bruckner - not quite right, but still he might be interesting to explore for you (4 symphonies to start with).

Wetz and Furtwangler could be of interest as well.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Marcus Tyberg's 2nd symphony has been likened to Bruckner. Personally, I tend to hear Mahler mixed in with it.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

My experience when looking into composers who have similar styles to others is that they usually come across as (for want of a better term) second-rate. The only exception that I can think of to this is Hans Rott, and he was a very unusual case. I would much rather look for composers who have their own individual style, and appreciate them for that individuality rather than what it might be similar to.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Becca said:


> My experience when looking into composers who have similar styles to others is that they usually come across as (for want of a better term) second-rate.


I remember a quote from Tovey about the humlility in Bruckner's music, calling it "the humility you would feel if you overheard a simple old soul talking to a child about sacred things." That's something which is hard to duplicate.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

mathisdermaler said:


> I am obsessed with Bruckner. His music (symphonies, masses, motets, string quintet, other pieces) is so profound. These days I listen almost exclusively to him.
> 
> So, I'm looking for recommendations based on my obsession. I already love Wagner and don't love Mahler, so please recommend other composers or pieces. Thank you.


Bruckner seems almost unique as a Romantic symphonist, and there is really no one I've heard who has his "sound". He's a true master. And fortunately he left us a dozen interesting symphonies (several of which are top-notch masterpieces), and some striking masses and choral music, all of it Brucknerian to the core. Where to go next? Actually, you needn't explore beyond Bruckner in order to reap the riches of this composer because his works tend to exist in multiple editions, and thus there is much to explore with each edition. For example, my favorite Bruckner symphony, the Seventh, exists in at least four full orchestra editions, and one chamber orchestra edition. I believe the original score, the one used for the first performance, is no longer extant or has been modified beyond recognition so that the exact original is lost to us. But those four orchestral editions spur many varied interpretations, so one can enjoy sampling editions as well as individual interpretations (whereas with most composers' works we have but one edition and must delight in interpretations only). The Fourth Symphony, my second favorite Bruckner work, exists in at least 5 or 6 editions, and again interpretations are rife. So there is so much to explore.

If you haven't encountered it yet, you might find something of interest at the website of the Bruckner Society of America ( https://www.abruckner.com/thebrucknersociety/ ) where you'll find a nearly complete Discography of recorded works. The list is awesome. You'll quickly see you will not soon exhaust your study of Bruckner. In fact, it's obvious this can be a pursuit for a number of lifetimes. And the discography keeps growing.

I will make one observation of my own about Bruckner's music, which I have long found wondrous. I have always heard this music as a faith filled man's attempt to view the face of God. The music continually reaches towards the Heavens, but the sky is clouded. Yet, every so often a part in those clouds allows for a shaft of revealing sunlight and for a moment it seems one indeed catches a glimpse of something greater, larger, and more permanent than anything in our human world. I cannot claim to be a Believer, as Bruckner certainly was, but Bruckner's music brings me closer to the possibility of considering his faith-filled viewpoint more than does any one else (with the possible exception of Bach). I suspect that some god could certainly have created Bruckner. I have no doubt but that Bruckner could create some god.


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## Lenny (Jul 19, 2016)

I approve that obsession.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

There's only one thing wrong with Bruckner's symphonies.

They're too short!


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## Lenny (Jul 19, 2016)

Itullian said:


> There's only one thing wrong with Bruckner's symphonies.
> 
> They're too short!


You are absolutely correct, and that's why I depend on modern technology and use the "loop" functionality in my Spotify lists. Yesteday I was listening the whole day Paul Buttner's brucknerian symphony #4. Yes, I kid you not: whole day.


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## David C Coleman (Nov 23, 2007)

The problem with Bruckner is that there are too many versions of the same symphony. I've listened to pretty much every version of every symphony. And at times you feel like you're listening to a completely different work. Symphony 4 for example, the original version is a very different beast to the later, revised versions, which are probably re-worked to be more "accessible " to the public. But they breathe quite different air in my op. And it's this is why I listen to them as separate works. 
But I too love Bruckner. I feel quite sad to him, because I picture this man struggling with his own self confidence able to express a highly individual style during one of the most hostile times in musical development. And still keep going. Symphony 9 is one of the great symphonies of all time, because of its deep prophetic utterances of the next century.


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## Alydon (May 16, 2012)

There are far worse obsessions to have.

I was given some great advice on buying Bruckner's music in a record shop (that's when such things existed) by a much older man than myself whom had had a Bruckner obsession for years. When I asked him which of the three Bruckner symphony CD sets I should buy he looked at me and answered, ' Buy them all.' So if in doubt that's the thing to do, bank balance allowing that is.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I would recommend Robert Schumann's Symphonies.

The height of German Romanticism.

The best thing is the symphonies are short enough that you will be able to get yourself out of your listening chair and burn some calories.

I wonder about the weights (masses) of all you Bruckner lovers. :lol:


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

hpowders said:


> I would recommend Robert Schumann's Symphonies.
> 
> The height of German Romanticism.
> 
> ...


I'm actually relatively thin. I think it's from all those times I jump out of my chair shouting, "Yes!"


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## helenora (Sep 13, 2015)

I think it's all about power of concentration hahaha, and here we are the best - Bruckner lovers having no problem focusing and concentrating for a long time - long attention span


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Manxfeeder said:


> I'm actually relatively thin. I think it's from all those times I jump out of my chair shouting, "Yes!"


You mean when you get your Federal tax refund? Or everytime President Trump triumphs?

I'm thin too, but the music has nothing to do with it.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

hpowders said:


> I'm thin too, but the music has nothing to do with it.


Just think if you'd combine your daily workout with the masters. The guy in the video could be you.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=workout+to+classical+music&view=detail&mid=08E5EE8E794E87DC97EA08E5EE8E794E87DC97EA&FORM=VIRE


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Manxfeeder said:


> Just think if you'd combine your daily workout with the masters. The guy in the video could be you.
> 
> https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=workout+to+classical+music&view=detail&mid=08E5EE8E794E87DC97EA08E5EE8E794E87DC97EA&FORM=VIRE


How lethargic! Unfortunately, his unenthusiastic exercise reps are just what 99% of the US population would expect for anyone exercising to "boring" classical music.


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## David C Coleman (Nov 23, 2007)

I've got no weight issues. Besides you don't put weight on when you're standing conducting lol


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## Botschaft (Aug 4, 2017)

The answer to a question like this is always Brahms.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

Richard Wetz (1875-1935) wrote three symphonies that have been recorded, a violin concerto, and some other music. The parallels between his music and that of Bruckner are more apparent than any other composer I know. He's not as good as Bruckner but his music sounds similar to Bruckner. Try the Second or Third symphonies if you are interested.

I find certain parallels to Bruckner in some of Franz Liszt's music as well -- the longer tone poems such as From The Cradle to the Grave and Ideals, among others, and his Faust and Dante symphonies. Again, I don't find Liszt's symphonies the equal of Bruckner's but they cover some of the same ground -- lengthy, mystical with religious affect, great up and down motion, repetitive thematic material that builds on itself like steppes.


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## helenora (Sep 13, 2015)

Lenny said:


> You are absolutely correct, and that's why I depend on modern technology and use the "loop" functionality in my Spotify lists. Yesteday I was listening the whole day Paul Buttner's brucknerian symphony #4. Yes, I kid you not: whole day.


and I believe you.


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

hpowders said:


> I would recommend Robert Schumann's Symphonies.
> 
> The height of German Romanticism.
> 
> ...


You don't put on much weight if you are so concentrated on listening you forget to eat.


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## pokeefe0001 (Jan 15, 2017)

I see/hear connections that sometimes baffle other people. Here's one of them: The symphonies of Franz Berwald. Approximately 30 years before Bruckner so expect an early- to mid-romantic sound rather than Bruckner's late romantic sound, but similar transitional techniques (i.e., abrupt), similar (but simpler) techniques in thematic development.

I've not heard anything that reminds of Bruckner's motets. Not needed. Bruckner suffices. I think his Os Justi is one of the greatest choral pieces ever written. (And about 50 years ago I was lucky enough to be in two chorals groups that sung it .. along with several other Bruckner motets.)


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