ANTON BRUCKNER

“This new issue of Bruckner’s last symphony is impressive—one would not associate this orchestra with the composer’s music, but under Janowski’s direction they produce a very Germanic sound. Once again Job Maarse has done a superb —let us hope there will be many future issues of this quality.”

Robert Benson

“The recording was made in the Victoria Hall of the orchestra in Geneva last year, and I find it frankly more attractive both sonically and performance-wise to the Vienna Philharmonic SACD which we placed on our Best of the Year List.”

John Sunier

“Marek Janowski, artistic and musical director of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, leads that venerable organization in a stunning and surprisingly nuanced account of Anton Bruckner’s Ninth, and last, Symphony.”

Dr. Phil Muse

“The Bruckner symphony with his home orchestra is highly recommended: Beautifully recorded in Geneva’s Victoria Hall, the performance is thoughtful and personal, especially the first movement, which has a fairly original and thoroughly convincing tempo scheme that’s much in the spirit of what Bruckner himself might have heard in the 19th century”.

David Patrick Stearns

“This recording is superior to the Vienna Philharmonic SACD that was one of my Best of the Year picks last year. The Suisse Romande orchestra sounds richer, gutsier, and less strident , the low bass support is stronger and the vital over-structure of bruckner’s massive blocks of sound flows more naturally and smoothly”.
 

                      ’Classical CD of the Week’

“The fact that the recording stands up well is attributable to the quality of the playing as much as to Janowski’s interpretation, which is responsive to the symphony’s long drawn-out paragraphs as well as the need for weight in the climaxes.
It is a performance that breathes in terms of movement and in the airiness of its sound. PentaTone’s recording aims for clarity, and brings out much detail that more often gets lost in Brucknerian mud”.

Matthew Rye