Symphonies Nos. 6 & 8 in Full Score (Dover Orchestral Music Scores)

I used this score to follow live streaming this symphony on the Berlin Philharmonic website

Normally, I'd give any Bruckner product a 5, because Bruckner is a genius. However, I take a bit of issue with the fact that they used the Eulenburg edition of the 8th, with is rather messy to look at, as opposed to the Urtext version they use for the 6th, which is very clean and easy to read. Also, why Dover would pair these two together is a bit of a mystery. I would be nicer if they'd publish them numerically like they did with Mahler, Beethoven, Mozart, etc.

Oh dear. Originally Dover promised to publish these two symphonies in the editions by Robert Haas and indeed that is what the original blurb said over 18 months ago when the publication was announced for January 2009. Well several order renewals later the score appears out of the blue, but all mention of and connection with Haas has disappeared and the result is a travesty in more ways than one. (see last paragraph for update)This Dover publication makes no mention of who edited the scores and simply says they come from "an authoritative edition". Well Dover may not want to say which edition but they can't hide it from those of us who know. This edition of the 8th symphony is from 1892 and edited by Schalk which was originally published that same year by Haslinger-Schlesinger-Lienau. This edition in particular is far from authoritative and is today widely rejected as inauthentic despite Schalk's not unjustified claim that Bruckner himself had approved the score for publication. There is much that is questionable, in particular the massive cuts in the finale and the smaller cuts in the third movement along with many alterations to dynamics. However it should be borne in mind that this edition was used for several decades as the principal edition for recordings and performances. Furtwängler, Knappertsbusch, Krips, Steinberg, Szell and Walter all made recording with it. Things have moved on since then with renewed scholarship into Bruckner's works and Dover should have bourne this mind when choosing which edition to publish.The 6th Symphony presented here is the 1894 edition by overseen by Cyril Hynais and published in 1899. The clue is the repeat to the 2nd half of the trio which is not present in Haas or Novak who presented the original score. Otherwise the symphony is pretty much as Bruckner's original score.This particular publication of 8th symphony is also far from acceptable in that it features many pages of blurred images and cramped images, Not so blurred that it is impossible to read, but they have no measure of the clear typefaces that where available at the time. Most of the fault lays in the thick-set type face used for the original engraving, but Dover's scan of it also leaves something to be desired. In this respect the edition of 6th symphony in the volume is very clear, just a pity that the edition itself is not by Haas.One other highly spurious feature on the back cover are the labels Dover append to the two Symphonies, "The Philosopher" for no. 6 and "The Apocalyptic". From where these appellations come is far from clear except it is not from Bruckner himself. When combined with all the other drawbacks this makes for a really shoddy level of publication and when this edition is compared next to the excellent edition Dover made of the 4th and 7th symphonies (in the editions by Haas) it immediately becomes clear just how much this one is found wanting. The best thing Dover could do is to immediately withdraw this lamentable publication, pulp all remaining copies and destroy the plates.For those people looking for the Haas edition of the Eighth Symphony it is now available from Fortissimo Music through the Amazon.uk site. The sixth edited by Haas however remains out of print.

I ordered this book well over year ago, and at the time I believe it was represented as being a reproduction of the Haas Edition of the 6th & 8th symphonies, following Dover's superb edition of the 4th & 7th symphonies in the Haas version:  Symphonies Nos. 4 and 7 in Full Score .The publication was delayed several times, yet each time I approved keeping the order open despite my doubts that I would ever see the book.To my amazement, it was just delivered. But guess what: a "bibliographical note" on the page facing the table of contents describes the source of the texts as " ... a compilation of works originally published separately in authoritative early editions." Translation: NOT the Haas Edition.So which editions are they? Not clear, though the 6th is a clean scan of what appears to be an early 20th century edition. The 8th might in fact be the Haas, though the scan is so crude in places as to be headache-inducing.Otherwise the book is very high quality: good paper, nicely sewn binding and fun cover art, reminiscent of Eliahu Inbal's goofy Teldec Bruckner disc covers in the 1980s.If only it contained what I wanted and thought I'd ordered.

There are more than one version of the eighth. Dover does'nt indicate which version is presented.

Dover had previously reprinted Bruckner's 4th and 7th symphonies from the Bruckner Society scores published in Austria. I was hoping they would do the same for no. 6&8. I was very disappointed to see the eighth reprinted from the Kalmus version. It is not as detailed as the Bruckner Society version, and more difficult to read. I do not know what the source was of the sixth, but since it a smaller work it is easier to read. Shame on you Dover for reprinting such an inferior score as the kalmus. I am thinking about returning this inferior score.

I found this volume to be nothing short of trash. I must admit it stunned me as I have truck loads of their scores and this is such a huge disappointment. No wonder the inventory of DOVER available scores is vanishing with an ever increasing frequency.I recently sent an email wondering if there were any plans to re-issue the Gounod FAUST - no response. I can only assume this is their open contempt for their customers. How sad a benchmark publisher is persuing this route. PAUL

This is a welcome addition to Dover's set of large-format full orchestral scores. As noted by several other reviewers, of the 2 Bruckner symphonies included here (6&8), the print quality of the 6th is much better than that of the 8th, though the 8th is nevertheless perfectly readable. More importantly, the edition used for the 8th is not stated, but appears to be the Nowak, with some cuts in the 3rd and 4th movements, rather than the Haas, which restored those cuts. If you are reading while listening to, e.g., Giulini and Vienna, which uses Nowak, alignment with the score is excellent, but with Karajan and Vienna, which uses Haas, at several points, starting around letter Q (p. 281) in the 3rd movement, you need to wait for the orchestra to play restored passages from Haas before continuing with the score. A couple of very negative reviews on this site made me hesitate for several months to buy this volume, but having now bought and used it, I'm glad I gave it a try, as it brings much pleasure despite its imperfections.

La impresión de la Octava Sinfonía es de pésima calidad. Una lástima, porque la Sexta está bastante bien. Devolví la partitura, y desde luego no recomiendo su compra.

６番はもとの書体が綺麗で良い印刷すが、８番はもとの書体がやや雑で見にくく残念でした。しかしブルックナーのスコアは他の出版社はどれも高いのでこの値段はお買い得かと思います。

For study purposes Dover Publications are hard to beat. This is fine.

６番は、今は絶版となったブライトコプフ＆ヘルテル社のポケットスコアからのリプリントでハース版。８番は印刷の見にくいのが残念。８番の初版を出版したHaslinger社のシャルク版かUniversal社あたりのポケットスコアかスタディスコアを拡大したリプリント版ではないかと思います。