2024 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Anton Bruckner (1824-1896). And as expected, we have seen an extra influx of recordings of his music throughout the year. Some were obviously done out of obligation to fill a quota whilst others, like this one, were undertaken out of respect and admiration for Bruckner's work.

Following their recordings on Alpha Classics of Bruckner's Symphonies Nos. 7 (Diapason d'Or) and 8 (awarded "best symphonic recording of the year" at the International Classical Music Awards), Paavo Järvi and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich conclude their tribute to the Austrian composer in this bicentenary year with a superlative recording of his crowning achievement, the 9th symphony.

Paavo Järvi captures extremely well the ominous tone that sets the first movement in motion. Slow and yet pressing forward to its efflorescence. Everything here is not so much about the massive ground shaking full orchestral octaves that mark the climactic passages, but rather about the profoundly lyrical development which leads to them. Here and there, deep within the orchestral textures, you hear hitherto unrevealed details. And in typical Brucknerian fashion, during the final three minutes, Järvi leads the music to its inexorable conclusion in an impressively expansive manner. Something we haven't experienced since the Bernstein era.

This symphony's distinctive Scherzo second movement is rhythmically precise yet powerfully charged in this account, with some highly fluid woodwing playing right around the halfway point.

The religiously upward reaching gestures within the final movement's opening minutes are what make this symphony resonate with the listener. Järvi and the Zürich musicians dig deep to bring this to the surface. Bruckner symphonies are, by nature, long and expansive, and reveal their magic by slow progress, long pedal notes, broad gestures and strong moments of affirmation. This Adagio of the 9th being a perfect example of just that. The final few minutes are gripping. When Bruckner deconstructs the massive chords from the beginning and turns them inside out and upside down, a clash between the divine and the demonic (harmonically speaking), as if raising his fist to God, you can clearly hear each and every note involved in this cataclysmic event. The strings are superb here as they hold their own against the massive brass forces. The long, soft and subdued ending chord, like life's final breath, is well achieved here, like a distant glimmer of light in the darkness.

Overall, the recorded sound is lush and luxuriant, capturing the orchestra's three-dimensional width and depth while at the same time exposing many of the music's key details.