Bruckner from the Archives, Vol. 2

SOMM Recordings announces the second instalment in Bruckner from the Archives, "a major commemorative series" (ConcertoNet. Com) in six double-CD volumes celebrating the 200th anniversary of Anton Bruckner's birth in 1824. Conceived and designed by SOMM Executive Producer and acclaimed Audio Restoration Engineer Lani Spahr with support from the Bruckner Society of America, the series features rare archival recordings of Bruckner's 11 symphonies and selected other important works, many appearing for the first time in any form. Recordings have been sourced from the more than 11,000 Bruckner performances in the Archive of John F. Berky, Executive Secretary of the Bruckner Society of America, who also acts as Consultant for this important series. Volume 2 offers live radio broadcasts of Bruckner's Symphony No. 2 by the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra (today's WDR S. O. Cologne) under Georg Ludwig Jochum (1955) and his unnumbered Symphony in D minor "Die Nullte" by the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam under Eduard van Beinum (1962). Joining these is the first recording in the long-play era of the Mass No. 2 in E minor, made by the Berlin Philharmonic under Karl Forster with the Choir of St Hedwig's Cathedral (1956). This is the first commercial release of the compelling performance of the Second Symphony, but all three of these works are presented here for the very first time in Lani Spahr's expert new restoration and remastering. The recordings are accompanied, as ever, by authoritative notes on the works' genesis in the context of Bruckner's life and compositional development, written by Professor Benjamin Korstvedt, President of the Bruckner Society of America and member of the Editorial Board of the New Anton Bruckner Complete Edition.