Music Reviews

The stars are aligned in this new multichannel recording of Bruckner's most successful symphonic work. The Chicago Symphony has the right heft to its string and brass sections for Bruckner's Wagner-inspired orchestral grandeur. Bernard Haitink's less reverential, cooler-than-Karajan approach is well suited to this orchestra's big Midwestern sound and style.

Fifteen Grammy Award-winning producer James Mallinson's long association with the CSO and Orchestra Hall includes numerous recordings for Decca under Solti, for Sony under Abbado, and for Teldec under Barenboim. He clearly has the measure of his forces, and he has mastered surround technology's capacity for re-creating the concert hall's acoustic ambience. Mallinson and engineer Christopher Willis give us a rich, warm recording, with a depth and breadth that realistically captures this stirring live performance.

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