Karajan conducts Bruckner: Symphony No. 8

When Anton Bruckner described his Eighth Symphony as "a mystery", he was speaking in a spiritual sense, and his final completed symphony still stands as one of the mightiest summits of the Austro-German symphonic canon. For Herbert von Karajan, Bruckner's Eighth was a lifelong journey of discovery – one which finds its consummation in this profoundly moving performance recorded with his beloved Vienna Philharmonic less than a year before his death in July 1989. "Otherworldly" is not too strong a term to describe Karajan's insights on this occasion and the Vienna Philharmonic – an orchestra which was far from sympathetic to Bruckner in the composer's own lifetime – makes noble atonement, with playing of unsurpassed power and beauty.

Ensemble: 

Wiener Philharmoniker

Conductor: 

Herbert von Karajan