This recording of Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony has been released to coincide with the start of Alan Gilbert’s tenure as principal conductor of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, and for the most part a very commendable version it is. Gilbert conducted a number of Bruckner symphonies during his time as music director of the New York Philharmonic and secures playing of considerable eloquence from his new orchestra, an ensemble whose previous principal conductors have included such distinguished Brucknerians as Wand, Eschenbach and Dohnányi. The concluding part of the Adagio is especially moving, horns and Wagner tubas voiced with impressive unanimity and depth, and the performance by the solo flute imbued with an otherworldly poignancy. The Scherzo is also extremely persuasive, combining rhythmic buoyancy with inner clarity and a real sense of power.

Gilbert’s navigation of the symphonic structure, using the Nowak edition of the score, is clear-sighted and purposeful. He includes the cymbal clash in the Adagio, though disregards many of the ritardando and a tempo markings that Nowak includes in the finale. I would have preferred the very end of the symphony, which is given a rather stately presentation, to have a bit more zest and feeling of exhilaration. Somewhat surprisingly for a production made under studio conditions, a few small errors in ensemble have been left unedited. There’s also a sudden and puzzling increase in the loudness of the ff tutti passage in bar 67 of the Scherzo (0'54"), as if a gain control had been briefly turned up at this point. Aside from these issues, the engineering is both vivid and rather plush, benefiting from the first-rate acoustics of the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg.