>I am a fanatical Brucknerite. So far, of Skrowaczewski's Bruckner series I have heard only Nos.1, 5, 6, 7 and 8. I love most of these recordings dearly, and heartily recommend this highly satisfying series to anyone. Still, I find his No.6 disappointing--but then, I find every recording of this work disappointing, except for one which I will mention later. The reader should bear in mind that this is my very favorite Bruckner symphony, so I may be being unduly hard to please. If I haven't heard every recording ever made of this work, I've heard a LOT of them (Celibidache, Davis, Dohnanyi, Haitink, Sawallisch, Lopez-Cobos, Chailly, Tintner I, Tintner II [NAXOS], Klemperer, Eschenbach, Wand, and Blomstedt, to name only those that come to mind). I have owned and discarded all of these. The only one I have kept is Skrowaczewski's. This is not because I consider his recording the last word, but simply that in the last three movements he really is the best I've heard compared with the ONE recording of this work that gets it ALL right--the Holy Grail among recordings of the Bruckner 6th is that by Horst Stein with the Vienna Philharmonic for DECCA. Every Brucknerite I've ever played my well-worn LP for admits it's the best ever--and don't just take my word for it--at the time of its LP release, HIGH FIDELITY magazine said this was "Bruckner conducting to rank with the best." Stein and the VPO understand that this is Bruckner's most lyrical symphony, and they give that element full rein, especially in the first movement, where everyone else tries to be uniformly granitic and monolithic--yes, there is that side to the movement, but it is not ONLY that--Stein allows the music to flex and flow, yet he never allows the foward impetus to slacken. I will continue to beg for its rerelease--meantime, Skrowaczewski's is the best acceptable stopgap among a disappointing lot--listening to any recording besides Stein's is a waste of time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-5YerqL-l0