Other than the brief Symphonisches Präludium (Pentatone, 11/17), Bruckner has been absent from Vladimir Jurowski’s discography until now. The symphonies have regularly featured in the conductor’s programmes in the concert hall, however, including performances of Nos 1 to 6 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra between 2011 and 2022. It is therefore perhaps not surprising that this recording of the Seventh presents a performance that is deeply considered and unusually persuasive.

One of the highlights of the performance is the transparent and expressive playing of the orchestra. Careful attention to dynamics is much in evidence, helping to convey luminosity and repose in the symphony’s quieter byways and bringing power and excitement to climactic passages. The build-up to the cymbal-capped peak of the Adagio is especially compelling. Jurowski has also clearly thought about the many ritard and a tempo markings found in the finale. Haas omitted them from his version of the score, and many conductors underplay them, an understandable approach given that following them too literally – as Klemperer did in his recording with the Philharmonia (Warner, 11/62) – brings an uncomfortable stop-start feel to the music. By contrast, Sanderling judiciously made the tempo changes an integral part of the movement in his 1999 recording with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (SWR Classic, 6/18), and Jurowski is similarly successful in absorbing them into the movement’s symphonic topography.

Altogether, this is a most impressive account of the score, and I’m inclined to rank it ahead of the fine recent accounts conducted by Roth, Thielemann, Rattle and Poschner. The recording matches the transparency of the playing for the most part, with only a small amount of cloudiness in the loudest passages. A notable addition to the Bruckner discography.