Bruckner 8 Review Highlights

“The partially becalmed segment of music at the heart of the Eighth Symphony’s opening

movement tells you much of what you need to know about Paavo Järvi’s Bruckner. Wind

and brass solos interleave eloquently, string pizzicatos commentate and every bar

seems fresh with necessary communication. There’s no sense that the Tonhalle-

Orchester Zürich’s excellent players are in any way marking time or waiting for the

next big tutti, as sometimes happens in Bruckner.

“That sense of corporate buy-in pervades Järvi’s performance, and makes it tingle with

interest and excitement. The Scherzo darts and jibes restlessly, the string accents sharp and

primed with nervous energy. String playing of chamber-like sensitivity graces the

magnificent Adagio, where Järvi’s patient, humane probing of Bruckner’s lengthy

paragraphs unearths both rare tenderness and a raw emotional vulnerability. Every

thread and line of argument seems fully assimilated by the players, and Järvi’s overall

shaping of the 27-minute movement is masterly.

“Very few Bruckner outings compel from start to finish, but this one does. It marks

out Paavo Järvi as one of our greatest living Bruckner interpreters.”

***** BBC Music Magazine, Terry Blain, 5 September 2023

“Listen to the way they let air and light into the Scherzo … There is this tenderness, even

humour - in Järvi’s Bruckner ... No foot-dragging heaviness. Recordings full of as

much clarity and details as the playing."

BBC Radio 3 Record Review, Andrew MacGregor, 26 August 2023

“.... If Bruckner could ever be made to sound light and athletic, Jarvi’s your man …

The finale is cumulatively magnificent, with life’s struggles gradually clearing, leaving

a final ringing peroration in the brightest of key signatures: C major. “

**** The Times, Geoff Brown, 23 August 2023

“We were expecting Järvi all in power, launched in a straight Pierre Boulez way but he takes

us by surprise by alternating moderate tempos (Allegro and Finale) and faster (Scherzo and

Adagio). It is not where we expected it to be and it works! It's even exciting. This ambivalent

nature makes it a version that will not please everyone, it is obvious. It may seem dry at first

listen, but you have to taste it puff after puff like an exceptional cigar in order to savor

all its nuances and exquisite depth.”

Crescendo.be, Bertrand Balmitgere, August 2023

Sound: 10 Record: 10 Repertoire: 10 Interpretation: 10

“ … Paavo Järvi and his Zürich-Tonhalle Orchestra have the whole scenic spectrum securely

within earshot, whether rugged rock faces or the wider skies beyond. There’s not a

‘Bruckner-cliché’ cathedral in sight. This is a magical mystery tour and make no mistake.

Fanciful? Not as played on this magnificent performance.

“OK, to digress for a moment, let me ask you this. What do you do if you encounter a

recording of a piece that knocks your socks off? … I freely admit that as soon as Järvi

and his players had galloped elatedly across the Symphony’s closing straight,

wherever it was they’d transported me to I wanted to go there again. And I did

precisely that.

… Please don’t get me wrong. I do know my favourite ‘great Bruckner Eights’- Furtwängler,

Celibidache, Böhm, Szell, Rosbaud, Schuricht, Giulini, Karajan, van Beinum, and others.

Can Järvi justifiably join their ranks? That’s the point I want to make. He can, well and truly.

If you love this work as much as I do, Järvi’s Zurich Eighth simply has to be heard.”

Rob Cowan’s Retro, 23 July 2023