Bruckner Symphony n.9 • with Finale • Alfonso Scarano & Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra

[@parkthoven]

Ferrazza's 4th movement version is GREAT~~!

[@AlfonsoScarano]

Totally agree about Ferrazza for two main reasons 1) he shows his sincere love and devotion to Anton Bruckner 2) he wrote this books www.unilibro.it/libri/f/autore/ferrazza_roberto to show and to share the entire process of reconstruction indicating exactly which notes were left by Bruckner and which notes he has used for the reconstruction paying attention and respect to the Bruckner's nature to be a devote and apparently gentle man, truly great composer, visionary and enormously genial.That's why, in my opinion, Ferrazza's finale sounds very "Brucknerian".

[@em-if9zk]

dear Maestro, I found out about Ferrazza's Finale reading " Il sosia di Dio", by Alessandro Zignani. I'm deeply touched by the sidereal beauty of your achievement - I can't stop listening to this 9th, again and again. You made such a huge gift to me and - I believe - to all Bruckner's lovers. Thanks!

[@LuigiParis55]

Congratulations to Roberto Ferrazza for the fantastic finale, the best version I have heard. Bravissimo to Maestro Scarano and to his wonderful orchestra for this great performance !!

[@AlfonsoScarano]

Thanks a lot for your comment Sir. We are extremely proud of our Bruckner 9th live performance and I'm totaly agree with you about Ferrazza's Finale reconstruction. After symphonies 4th and 9th we are looking for 8th on next 2 September 2023 www.thailandphil.com/events/season-finale/ as well as to continue the Bruckner cykle along the Brucknerian year 2024.

[@hectorberlioz1449]

Very good performance !

[@grangetowncardiff6935]

Listed again. This is magisterial! This a real realisation, unlike the other one which seems to get the public acceptance. But is not artistic, nor engaged with the Bruckner zeitgeist! This version is true, for those who love the master Bruckner. The other completion (so called) with their "bifolios etc etc) Is unmusical. Pip Pip

[@gezobel]

Old Anton rocks!

[@hanwenshawn6837]

The fourth movement is so beautiful!!

[@grangetowncardiff6935]

I think this completion is magnificent! I was going to make reference to another one, from Adelaide, but I think it would not be advisable.

[@reichhardbuerger1492]

The Coda will be a mystery forever, but personally I find the solution here more organic than SPCM. All in all it seems remarkable where the different approaches are NOT that different. There is so much good Bruckner in what is left of this movement it would really be a shame not to perform it in some way. Congrats to Ferrazza! Had to be quite a puzzle to get this together. And of course to Scarano and the orchestra to go on this expedition.

[@AlfonsoScarano]

Thanks for your comment Sir. We are perfectly aware to be in a "minefield" when it comes the Ninth's Finale, however I have highly appreciated the scientific approach of Ferrazza and above the "common sense" he used "to resolve" the most dangerous parts. Let me inform you that we have included the Ferrazza's reconstructed Finale in our season, still in progress as you can see here www.thailandphil.com/events/phenomenal-finale/

[@user-iz7el4mw1l]

The composer Bruckner was once touted as a super-genius, but I believe that the daily landscape of his compositions must have been thorough craftsmanship. This supplementary version of the 9th and 4th movements is the latest one that came out after more than ten attempts to complete the supplementary writing, but it was thoroughly refined based on the SPCM version of the International Bruckner Society, It can be said that it has been scrutinized. The depth and richness of the composing part by the supplementary writer of the 4th movement coda is outstandingly superior to any other attempt so far, and I feel that it can even be said to be philosophical. The manner in which the movement concludes is also in perfect agreement with the sketch dated May 23, 1896, which is to my delight. In the current situation where attempts to supplement writing are being made frequently, it is likely that fewer and fewer people will criticize attempts to complement this unfinished work. I feel like I want it again.

[@AlfonsoScarano]

Thanks a lot for your very appropriate comment. However, having talked a lot with Ferrazza a year before the performance and recording as well as having also studied his books www.abruckner.com/editorsnote/features/a-new-performing-version-of-the-bruckner-ninth-fin/ I would like to clarify a couple of points: 1. Ferrazza based his version exclusively on Bruckner's manuscripts published online by Austrian National Library, not refining the SPCM version, to which he is completely unrelated; 2. The sketch of "23rd" you mentioned (which is presumed to be "May 1896" how Bruckner usually did not indicate the month or the year but just the day of the week) has been not used by Ferrazza, who has contested the existence of sketches attributable with certainty to the Coda in an article published by The Bruckner Journal on March 2019 vol. 23/1 brucknerjournal.com/Issues/backissues5.html Once more thanks for your contribute to the discussion 🙏

[@remomazzetti8757]

The final drafts for the missing Coda are in no way complete nor are they definitive. Have you consulted the facsimile? These sketches frequently contain single whole notes with little or no harmony, erasures, and most importantly, not a SINGLE indication of the thematic elements that Bruckner might have used to elaborate his hasty sketches. And I'm sure the entire symphony would have been subjected to the same kind of thorough revision that is so characteristic of Bruckner.

[@michelleclerc3857]

Caro Maestro, allow me to express first of all my admiration for your magnificent conducting - I was impressed when I watched this KZbin film, witnessing your discreet and suggestive style (if I may describe it thus simplistically) and then just yesterday I only listened to it (the Finale three times) and was overwhelmed by both the seriousness and refinement of the result with these highly professional musicians, who I have only started to discover. Allow me also to state my elation at the work of Roberto Ferrazza. I have been preaching to all my friends, and as a writer also in writing, the necessity of Bruckner’s Fourth movement ever since I heard the first Carragan Finale on CD as it was published. Over the years I then followed the various stages of the “SPCM“ Finale, studying the score and being variously enthused by the results which somehow were also dependent, I guess, on the quality of the actual performances. Musicology was absolutely necessary in order to correctly decipher Bruckner’s sketches for what were to be the stolen bifolios - and yet, somehow, I felt that the spiritual depth of the Fourth movement, with its almost Lisztian (the Faust Symphony) “programme”, was occasionally absent. Because of the importance of this consideration I have been and am an admirer of Sébastien Letocart’s Finale (alas not so well served by orchestral performances) and am also keen on hearing Mr Phillips improvement on the “SPCM” Finale. Coming back to Mr Ferrazza’s Finale, to which you and the musicians of the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra are doing such great honour - what an extraordinarily moving way it has of weaving into the Coda the so important transition of Minor to Major by means of contrapuntal strands shifting the harmony! The transformation of the zigzagging ladder at the movement’s beginning, descending from Nowhere into Nowhere into a major scale enhancing the "Christic” chorale does have an extraordinarily "resolving" and "saving" (!) emotional impact. Also the Fugue with its texture of souls frantically running into all possible directions in their Purgatory world has been carved out both in its incidental chaos and in its direction toward resolution and necessity within the ultimate Design. A clearly spiritual message of Bruckner’s understood by Mr Ferrazza and substantialised by honouring Bruckner’s craftsmanship with his own - to an extent which I am still discovering - and served so well by you. Thank you. May I ask, lastly and as a favour, to direct me, if possible, to the references of Mr Ferrazza’s score? With gratitude, Michel Leclerc

[@AlfonsoScarano]

Thanks a lot for your comment. You can find the references about Ferrazza's Finale reconstruction here www.unilibro.it/libri/f/autore/ferrazza_roberto or Amazon. After having almost completed the Mahler cycle (missing just 8th) we are going ahead also for our Bruckner journey performing 8th on next 2 September 2023 www.thailandphil.com/events/season-finale/ 🙏

[@angelodisalvo4679]

Not playing the Ninth's Finale is a choice that must be overcome! Therefore mille grazie to Alfonso Scarano, who has been courageous!! In the manuscript there are many motifs which are simply wonderful, why ignoring them? And as Ferrazza's reconstruction is absolutely in Bruckner's style, I very much hope, his Finale will be more and more performed.

[@AlfonsoScarano]

Dear Angelo, in my opinion everyone must be free to decide if play Finale or not. Let's not forget that for each performance the orchestras rent (rightly) the material from MVW and it is the 3 mvt. of course. However you are right affirming "in the manuscript there are many wonderful themes". Bruckner and Schubert were not so lucky to have Ricordi publisher and Toscanini who decided that Turandot should have a Finale, that the same was written by a high-level composer like Alfano and that afterwards they have had no qualms to ask him to change it. Puccini left several pages of sketches and today when the public go to theater to listen Turandot nobody claims about Finale. Five of the eleven years here in Bangkok I spent holding the Chief Conductor position also to Teplice in Czech Republic (2013-2018) and I remember very well when, after Bruckner's fourth, we performed the eighth but the orchestra insisted to play the ninth because shorter and because it would have allowed us to associate it with Schubert's unfinished (as it is normal). I also remember my clear refusal 😊 I have always considered this combination so in vogue as disqualifying for both symphonies because the reaction of the public is always interlocutory and sometimes "disappointment". It is like if we say to the audience "well, this are two masterpieces ... but incomplete". I understand that in terms of concert durata the double-bill is perfect but personally I think represent a "diminutio" for both symphonies. I got the counter-proof here in Bangkok last March when on the first day we performed the 3 mvt version of Bruckner's ninth (because in the first part there was Mozart's clarinet concerto) and the following day the ninth with Ferrazza's Finale (without Mozart concerto). Going back I would not program the 3 mvt version anymore, and not because Bruckner left us anyway 174 complete bars and 285 bars partially instrumented, but because in my opinion the Adagio is not the right conclusion of this masterpiece (despite the major part of conductors, Bruckner scholars and musicologist affirm the opposite). That's why I admire the courage of Simon Rattle to perform the SMPC Finale as well as I respect very much all the others Bruckner scholars who worked on Finale. Loving like our Korean Principal Flute prepare her-self 1:21:07 watching up, to an hypothetical sky, before the last Chorale.

[@angelodisalvo4679]

@@AlfonsoScarano Dear Maestro, there are many interesting topics in your answer, and it would be too expensive to consider them all. I only would like to emphasize 3 points. 1) You have mentioned the case of Turandot. As we all know, one could mention the case of Mahler’s Tenth, which is even more significant: its reconstruction and completion has been quite troubled, especially because Alma’s oppositions. But at last the Deryck Cooke last version is commonly accepted and performed all over the world. Is it not so? With Bruckner’s Ninth it seems there exists a kind of sacrilege for conductors, to consider any version of the Finale. Why?! 2) If I have right understood, you say that Bruckner’s scholar and musicologists think, the Adagio would be the “right conclusion”. This opinion is senseless, because if it were up so, our composer would have not prayed God, to give him the strength to complete the fourth mvt. 3) It is a small thing, but I find it moving what you said about your Korean Principal Flute. Can you better explain please this detail? P.S. I write English (with not little effort and many mistakes 😞) only in order to allow more people following our chat.

[@AlfonsoScarano]

@@angelodisalvo4679 Dear Angelo, thanks a lot for your interesting comments. Going to the points: 1) Yes it seems a true "sacrilege" 😊 😊😊who knows why? May be because Bruckner's music has a sort of sacre and religious aurea or also, most appropriately, because Bruckner looks unsure about him-self and too sensitive to the external opinions so nobody could be sure about how much he wanted to amend the Finale. Consequentely the conductors are just a little scared to do something of not authentic or outrageous. 2) I mean about the conductors mainly. I see to have included in the same phrase the scholars and the musicicologists, sorry. It is clear that scholars are in favour of the Finale 😊and, honestly speaking, after having conducted both versions me too, infact I wrote: "going back I would not program the 3 mvt version anymore". 3) Ferrazza reconstructed Finale has 633 bars. In my opinion the "point of balance" (the moment in which form and essence become just one and no one prevails over the other) happen at bars 593-598 of the coda. All masterpieces has a similar moment. It is a combination of energies. It is too long to explain but I know my TPO colleagues since 11 years and the Flutist reaction sounds unexpected to me.

[@remomazzetti8757]

​@@angelodisalvo4679The only reason Alma Mahler temporarily forbade performances of Cooke's lecture/demonstration in 1960 stemmed from her misunderstanding of the undertaking. Basically she was angry that she wasn't paid royalties for an almost complete performance which she did not hear at the time. Once she heard a tape of the performance, she lifted her ban and praised Cooke version. And the situation with Turandot and the Bruckner 9th Finale is completely different. Mahler's draft is complete in form and does not require free composition to fill in gaps. Sussmayr, Alfano, and all editors of the Bruckner finale had to provide sizable quantities of the missing music even when there are NO sketches available.

[@M19754]

Buongiorno e complimenti. Sarebbe interessante se fosse pubblicato un audio lossless. Mi sembra di aver letto che di una parte della bozza del finale se n'era appropriato qualcuno, e poi era andata perduta. Se è così, una disgrazia nella disgrazia.

[@ronnachaiaramraks3336]

This concert I haven't a chan to go there , THANK you very very much !!

[@AlfonsoScarano]

You are welcome

[@user-mc7gg3zx5f]

Did you teach conductors? If so, how much and where you teach? I'm interested.

[@sisisisi5395]

Great!!!

[@AlfonsoScarano]

Thank you

[@Artariastein]

Der Klang dieses Orchester ist bemerkenswert! Ich hatte - offen gestanden- nicht erwartet, dass es in Thailand ein so gutes Orchester gibt!

[@thommyrosenspira7201]

Somewaht dark in sound it lacks brightness which had given more colour. Perhaps due to the technicians or the hall itself. Otherwise a differnet but all the same very good performance. Does Scarano use Samale Massucci version? His own coda I presume! Well done not too speculative.

[@AlfonsoScarano]

Sir, as you can see in the description, it is clearly reported we have played the Finale completed by Roberto Ferrazza. This version has been written on 2009/2010, published on 2017 and live performed on 26 march 2022 here in Thailand (world premiere). About the dark sound I respect your opinion of course but just let me say that Prince Mahidol Hall, home of the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, is one of the best concert hall in the world. Maybe the presence of the barriers for covid have influenced on Thailand Phil sound parameters.

[@masajbeyrifat6895]

Bu kadar büyük esere ve yoruma böyle zayıf alkış beni fazla şaşırtmadı. Türkiye de (İzmir) bir konserde Mahler 2. senfoni böyle cılız bir alkış alınca ellerim patlayana kadar alkışlamıştım. Ayrıca Bruckner in 3. Senfonisinin ilk seslendirilişinde Viyana gibi yerde başına geleni unutmamalı. 7. Senfoniden sonra belirli çevrelerde ilgi görmeye başladı ve senfonilerini çeşitli versiyonlarla kısaltmak zorunda kaldı. Özellikle sıcak iklimli yerlerde bu tür uzun eserler hiç sevilmez. İtalyan tarzı buralara daha uygun. Türkiye den sevgi ve saygılar. (TUR) . . . . . (ENG) Such a weak applause for such a great work and comment did not surprise me much. When Mahler's 2nd symphony received such a weak applause at a concert in Turkey (Izmir), I applauded until my hands exploded. In addition, it should not be forgotten what happened to him in a place like Vienna when Bruckner's 3rd Symphony was performed for the first time. After the 7th Symphony, he started to attract attention in certain circles and he had to shorten his symphonies with various versions. Especially in hot climates, such long works are not liked at all. Italian style is more suitable around here. Love and respect from Türkiye.

[@AlfonsoScarano]

I will conduct Bruckner 4th to Istanbul on next 5 January 2024

[@masajbeyrifat6895]

@@AlfonsoScarano Harika seçim. Bruckner in ilk dinlediğim senfonisidir. Konçerto olarak Ulvi Cemal Erkin den Piyano Konçertosunu öneririm. (TUR) . . . . . (ENG) Great choice. It is Bruckner's first symphony that I listened to. As a concerto, I recommend Ulvi Cemal Erkin's Piano Concerto. >> kzbin.info/www/bejne/h3-zlX-jZqyGh5I