Bruckner: Symphony No. 7

**** Excellent Album

Performance ****      Recording *****

“Paavo Järvi conducts a very emotional and rather broadly shaped Bruckner Seventh. Already in the first movement, any optimism is countered with accentuated melancholy… The slow movement is also played very sensitively and touchingly. There is then splendor and glory in the scherzo, while in the last movement the contrasts are well built up and the goal set by the composer is achieved with power and dignity. The Tonhalle Orchestra plays at a high level, very balanced in sound, and the sound recording is also excellent.” ****

“… Beautifully played and superbly recorded, this Bruckner Seven is very recommendable as part of the ongoing Zürich/Järvi success story and as a version to shortlist for the library.”

“Paavo Järvi’s new account of Symphony No 7 … shows the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich in peak condition. Tempos never drag. The orchestral sound is detailed and expansive, woodwind expressive, brass white-hot. Colours are rich, tenderness offsetting majesty. The big climaxes, exciting but controlled, avoid that Brucknerian tendency to sound laboured; no indulgence here. This impressive account is part of a symphonic cycle that concludes next year.”