Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 2 in C minor, sometimes known as the "Symphony of Pauses", was completed in 1872. It was actually the fourth symphony composed by Bruckner, after the Symphony in F minor (1863), the Symphony No. 1 in C minor (1866), and the Unnumbered Symphony in D minor (1869).

History

In the fall of 1871, after having become established in Vienna, Anton Bruckner embarked on a new symphonic project, his fourth, which in less than a year would result in a completed and copied score of nearly 2000 bars. The Symphony No. 2, which was mostly written in the summer of 1872, represents a breakthrough in Bruckner's conception of the symphony. Although Bruckner had been composing sonata-form movements with three distinct themes since he began writing symphonies in 1862, in 1872 he greatly expanded the scope of their presentation and development, and established the framework, which he would use consistently in all of his subsequent symphonic work. Moreover, the Adagio of this symphony is in ABA′B′A″ Lied form followed by a coda – the framework which Bruckner would use in his subsequent symphonic work, with exception of the Sixth. The Scherzo comes second; the slow movement follows. Georg Tintner: "Bruckner's mania for revision sometimes bore positive fruits ... [but with] the Second and the Third [symphonies] his first versions seem to me the best."

1873 revision

Bruckner made adjustments preparing for the 1873 premiere.

  • First movement: Rhythmic trombones were added on bars 129–135 and 446–452.
  • Adagio: In the fifth section a solo violin was added from bar 150 to bar 164. During the rehearsal, violin soloist Heinz Haunold told: "... the violin solo at that point of the movement effectively prevented the orchestra from rising to the great climax ... but it also contained a fatal trap for the performers of the symphony."

<blockquote>The violin solo ... in duple quarters and duple eighths, ... together with the rhythmic complexities already caused by the shift from sextuplets to quintuplets in the first violins, ... must have created an amazingly detailed sound – not to say an impenetrable musical fog."</blockquote>

:In the coda, the solo horn, which was considered unplayable by the horn-player, was replaced by the first clarinet and the viola section.

  • Scherzo: The repeats were deleted.
  • Finale: A "very dissonant section of the development",

Second Version, 1877

Bruckner crossed out the second half of section 2 of the slow movement, judged too difficult for the solo horn – with, as a result, an imbalance in the structure of the movement

  • Carragan edition (2007): this edition is a critical edition of the 1877 version of the symphony. Carragan explained its origin: "After a bit of discussion, Hofrat Nowak asked me to prepare a new edition of the symphony for the Collected Edition, knowing, as many others did as well, that he had not dealt fully with the problems of the Haas edition in 1965."

1892 edition

This, the first published edition of the symphony, was prepared by Cyrill Hynais and was until recently thought to be inauthentic, but Carragan has shown that it corresponds closely to the 1877 version. This first edition was performed on 25 November 1894 by the Vienna Philharmonic under Hans Richter.

Discography

The first recording of any part of the symphony was made by Fritz Zaun with the Berlin State Opera Orchestra in 1934: a cut version of the Scherzo in the 1892 first published edition. The oldest surviving complete performance is by Georg-Ludwig Jochum with the Bruckner Orchestra of Linz, dating from 1944 and using the Haas edition. The first commercial recording was by Volkmar Andreae with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra in 1953, also using the Haas edition.

First version, 1872

Carragan's edition

  • Kurt Eichhorn conducting the Bruckner Orchestra Linz, 1991 (first recording, using a pre-publ. Carragan ed.), Camerata 15CM-379 & 30CM-195
  • Georg Tintner conducting the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, 1996 (using a pre-publ. Carragan ed.), Naxos
  • Simone Young conducting the Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra, 2006, BMG SACD
  • Gerd Schaller conducting the Philharmonie Festiva, live recording, 2011, Profil PH 12022
  • Herbert Blomstedt conducting the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, 2012, Querstand SACD
  • Rémy Ballot conducting the Saint-Florian Altomonte Orchestra, 2019, Gramola Hybrid SACD 99211

1873 variant

  • Kurt Eichhorn conducting the Bruckner Orchestra Linz, 1991, Camerata 30CM-196

1876 variant

  • Kurt Eichhorn conducting the Bruckner Orchestra Linz, abruckner.com BSVD-0103

:NB: composite recording prepared in 2007 by William Carragan and John Berky, using three Camarata recordings (15CM-380, 30CM-195 and 30CM-196) conducted by Kurt Eichhorn

Second version, 1877

Haas's (mixed) edition

  • Franz Konwitschny conducting the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, live recording, 1951, Berlin Classics
  • Erich Schmid conducting the Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra, studio recording, 1965, Ampex
  • Horst Stein conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, studio recording, 1973, Decca/London
  • Günter Wand conducting the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra, studio recording, 1981, RCA
  • Christoph Eschenbach conducting the Houston Symphony Orchestra, live recording, 1996, Koch

Nowak's edition

  • Carlo Maria Giulini conducting the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, studio recording, 1974, Testament
  • Eugen Jochum conducting the Staatskapelle Dresden, studio recording, 1980, EMI
  • Herbert von Karajan conducting the Berliner Philharmoniker, studio recording, 1981, Deutsche Grammophon
  • Stanisław Skrowaczewski conducting the Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra, studio recording, 1999, Arte Nova/Oehms Classics
  • Hiroshi Wakasugi conducting the Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra, studio recording, 2004, Arte Nova
  • Thomas Dausgaard conducting the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, studio recording, 2010, BIS

Carragan's edition

Daniel Barenboim conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, 1997 (using a pre-publ. Carragan ed.) - Teldec CD 3984 21485-2

A few other recent recordings use also the Carragan's edition:

  • Paavo Järvi with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony - Sony SACD SICC 10218, 2011<br/>NB: in the coda of Adagio the clarinet is replaced by a horn
  • Mario Venzago with the Northern Sinfonia - CPO 777 735-2, 2011
  • Daniel Barenboim with the Staatskapelle Berlin - DG Set 479 6985, 2012
  • Marek Janowski with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande - Pentatone Classics SACD PTC 5186 448, 2012

1892 edition

A few recordings use this first edition:

  • Hermann Scherchen conducting the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, 1965, Disco Archivia CD - with a large cut (bars 388-512) in the Finale
  • Cristian Mandeal conducting the Cluj-Napoca Philharmonic Orchestra - Electrecord LP ST-ECE 02731/32/33, 1984
  • Hun-Joung Lim conducting the Korean Symphony Orchestra, 2016, Decca

References

Sources

  • Anton Bruckner, Sämtliche Werke, Kritische Gesamtausgabe – Band 2: II. Symphonie c-Moll (Originalfassung), Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag der internationalen Bruckner-Gesellschaft, Robert Haas (editor), Vienna, 1938
  • Anton Bruckner: Sämtliche Werke: Band II: II. Symphonie c-Moll, Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag der Internationalen Bruckner-Gesellschaft, Vienna
  • II/1: Fassung 1872, William Carragan (editor), 2005
  • II/2: Fassung 1877, Leopold Nowak (editor), 1965; new edition by William Carragan, 2007
  • Anton Bruckner Critical Complete Edition – Symphony No. 2 in C minor
  • Full score (Haas/1877) at the Indiana University School of Music
  • Bruckner symphonies versions by David Griegel
  • Complete discography of the symphony by John Berky
  • Eighty Years of the Bruckner Second, William Carragan
  • Essay on the editions of Symphony No. 2 by Benjamin-Gunnar Cohrs