The New Anton Bruckner Complete Edition continues following the 2024 anniversary year, with the publication of the Adagio cut from the Eighth, and the first version of the Fourth.

A successful Bruckner anniversary year 2024 lies behind us, and the gratifyingly strong demand is reflected in an increased interest in the works of this ‘composer of the year’, who had to fight long and hard for the recognition of his symphonic output during his lifetime.

As well as concert performances, the anniversary year was also marked by numerous other events. In particular, several scholarly conferences gave the international research community the opportunity to exchange ideas and brought fresh impetus which will be incorporated not least into the New Anton Bruckner Complete Edition.

Several volumes in this series are currently in preparation. In particular, attention should be drawn to two new publications, which stand out especially from previously-known editions:

the latest publication is the Adagio of 1887–1889 which was cut from the 8th Symphony, edited by Paul Hawkshaw. This is issued in print as a separate volume. This movement, sometimes also known under the title “Zwischen-Adagio” [Intermediate Adagio], constitutes an extremely notable transitional stage between the 1st and 2nd versions of the Eighth. Bruckner reworked this movement after he had discovered in October 1887 that Hermann Levi would not perform his first version of the Eighth.

The edition is intended as a Supplement to the 1st version of the Eighth already published, and the 2nd version which is in preparation, and is now published for the first time in the Complete Edition. Orchestral material matching this edition enables this movement to also be played in the concert hall.

The next volume to be published will be the 1st version of the 4th Symphony. It was composed in 1874 and was revised by Bruckner over the following two years with the prospect of a performance, which ultimately did not take place. Only a century later (1975) was this first version, edited by Leopold Nowak, published in the Complete Edition. For this, the Erstschrift [first copy] of 1874, which already included a few later alterations, served as a model and thus actually represents an intermediate stage from the years between 1874 and 1876.

As the original text of 1874 can no longer be fully reconstructed because of the revisions mentioned above, the Bruckner scholar Benjamin M. Korstvedt, a specialist in the fourth symphony, has undertaken a recent evaluation of the sources for his edition, and selected the final version of the 1876 revision as the basis for his edition, rather than the Erstschrift. The new edition therefore differs considerably from the previously-known edition in several passages. The revisions which Bruckner undertook when he prepared the score for a performance include refinements to the performance instructions as well as improvements in the instrumentation, such as at the conclusion of the Trio, in which the orchestral texture was enriched by the inclusion of additional horn and trombone parts.

In addition, in the course of a metrical revision, some bars were cut or inserted, such as the rests after the horn call motifs in the Scherzo.

The score edited by Korstvedt therefore clearly differs audibly in passages from the previously-known edition, and has already been recorded by the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jakub Hrůša on the Accentus label.

And finally, this year there will be some administrative changes. The fruitful collaboration which has existed for many decades between Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag and Alkor Edition will now be further intensified, with rental material for Austria also available from Kassel since the beginning of July.    

Angela Pachovsky
(from [t]akte 2/2025)
(translation: Elizabeth Robinson)