As a consequence of Bruckner’s various revisions to his Third Symphony there are three separate versions of the score in the New Anton Bruckner Complete Edition, all of which are being recorded as part of Capriccio’s cycle in advance of the composer’s bicentenary in 2024. The version here is the first and longest of the three and includes several Wagner quotations that were eliminated in subsequent revisions.

At 57 minutes, Markus Poschner’s performance is a fleet interpretation, the running time barely a minute longer than Dausgaard’s account with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, the fastest performance of the 1873 version on record. There are notable differences between the two performances, however. In both the first-movement development and during the approach to the climax of the Adagio, Dausgaard increases the tempo as the volume increases, resulting in the music sounding positively feverish. Poschner, by contrast, maintains a consistent pulse, helping his interpretation sound more symphonic. He is also much more attentive to dynamics than Dausgaard, who tends to underplay the sudden contrasts that are an important feature of Bruckner’s music. On the other hand, Dausgaard’s performance is far more dramatic and engaging; Poschner’s traversal of the work, for all its virtues, operates at a much lower voltage.

Among other recordings of the symphony’s 1873 version, Marcus Bosch’s account with the Aachen Symphony Orchestra enjoys both an excellent performance and a particularly fine recording, the sound more transparent than achieved by Capriccio in Vienna. Blomstedt’s version with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, available on disc as part of a box-set or individually as a download, is similarly likely to prove a much more rewarding listen than the newcomer.