Knappertsbusch Conducts Bruckner

Conductor Hans Knappertsbusch has always aroused controversy over his Bruckner performances due to his perceived lassitude of tempo and allegiance to first-published editions. Tempo flexibility, dynamic contouring, and rhetorical gesture are part and parcel of Bruckner's music as promulgated in those editions. This historic recording of Knappertsbusch directing the Vienna Philharmonic displays just that approach to Brucknerian rubato in the Eighth and Ninth Symphonies. A jewel in history, waiting to be discovered.