One thing you have to know upfront: this isn't the
Bruckner's Eighth that everybody knows. That Eighth is the heavily revised 1890 version; this Eighth is the original 1887 version. That Eighth has been the basis of nearly every performance and recording of the work since its premiere in 1892 and with good reason: it is a magnificent piece of musical architecture that touches the eternal and the infinite. This Eighth was the piece of musical architecture whose rejection by a prominent conductor caused
Bruckner to substantially, if not essentially, alter much of the score. Both Eighths have the same fundamental ground plan and the same ultimate trajectory, but this Eighth has some modulations that seem to meander, some orchestrations that seem blatant, some climaxes that seem strained, and, in the case of the opening movement's coda, passages that seem unworthy of the composer. While it is worthwhile to hear a performance of this Eighth every once in a while if only for comparison with that Eighth, it had better be one heck of a performance.