Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 3 (1873 Version)

Bruckner revised his Third Symphony more than any other: there are three manuscript versions, two published versions from within his lifetime, a separate manuscript of the Adagio, and revision fragments from 1874, 1875 and 1876 that have also survived. In its first version (used for this recording), it is Bruckner’s longest and most overtly Wagnerian symphony. When Bruckner expert Robert Simpson got to study Nowak’s edition of this version in 1977, he threw his previously held opinions overboard and declared it an “achievement … progressively maimed in successive versions.” As part of this completist cycle, Markus Poschner will present the work at all stages of its pruning, but this is the obvious point at which to start.