Bruckner: Symphony No. 8

Using the 1890 version of the score, Zubin Mehta directs an impressive performance of a work this great orchestra often played under Furtwängler and Karajan. Mehta admits to feeling particularly close to the symphony, and his Viennese training pays dividends as he unfolds the long paragraphs with a very sure touch and instinctive grasp. The orchestral playing is, it hardly needs saying, magnificent: The strings dig in and provide burnished lines, the winds blend beautifully, while the brass—always the crowning glory in Bruckner—add a luster that takes the breath away. This is a treasurable memento of one of today’s senior conductors.