Sawallisch's Bruckner No. 9, recorded in the Great Hall of Munich University in December 1984, may not have the searing intensity or sheer loftiness of spirit of the best on record—those of Karajan (DG), Wand (EMI), or Walter (CBS)—but it is an agreeably straightforward reading, disinclined to dawdle in the first movement (on record, only the deleted Horenstein was notably brisker) though more relaxed in the second, with the third taken at a generally unexceptionable pace. The Bavarian State Orchestra have all the right Bruckner attributes, though the Orfeo recording, even on CD, is rather under-powered. It needs to be played at quite a high level if the slightest recessed orchestral image is to be successfully placed. The editing is not always scrupulous with the barest hint of a join four bars after fig. L of the Adagio much less obviously worrying than the faded up edit at fig. F of the first movement. In a symphony where the exposition needs to build seamlessly over a 225 bar span, even the slightest flaws can upset the concentration in a performance that is giving the music no special airs but rather letting it speak for itself.'