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I have been listening to my friend's CDs of the Bruckner Symphonies 5, 7 & 8 performed by Takashi Asahina and the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony in the 1990's. I have quite a number of Bruckner recordings, so am not quick to buy more, but have ordered my own copies of these without hesitation. Really great performances with a superb tuba presence.

I would highly recommend to any other tuba playing Bruckner fans!

These are only obtainable from Japan, but can be ordered from http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/

Cool! Naturally, I should ask -- who is the tuba player?

A bit off-point, but a few years back I was fortunate to hear the Tokyo Philharmonic do the Shostakovich Cello (and horn!) Concerto #1 and Bruckner 7 at Suntory Hall under Myung-Whun Chung. World-class performance. I was assured by a Tokyo friend that the NHK is at least as good. So upon first reading this post I was thinking the Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra must have been a "pick-up" group for the particular recordings - surely there aren't 3 top-drawer orchestras in Tokyo. Then I wikied - and not only must I be wrong about the Tokyo Metropolitan, but maybe about there being just 3 good orchestras in Tokyo as well, because there is an entry likewise for a Tokyo Symphony Orchestra.

Anyone out there able to comment on these FOUR professional orchestras? Are they ALL as polished as the Philharmonic clearly (to my ear, anyway) was/is? Do they share personnel (as I've heard said about the London orchestras), or is the talent pool that deep?

The tuba player for the Tokyo Met Orch is Kiyoshi Sato and he is the one on those Bruckner recordings.

There are actually 8 professional orchestras in Tokyo alone. They are the NHK Sym, Yomiuri Sym, Toyko Met, Tokyo Sym, Tokyo Phil, Tokyo City Phil, Japan Phil and the New Japan Phil. All of them with the exception of the Tokyo City are full-time. Tokyo Phil is actually a double orchestra as it and the former Shinsei Sym joined forces about 7-8 years ago now. There are quite a few orchestras in this country.

Background info on Maestro Asahina:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obitu ... 29660.html" target="_blank" target="_blank

<<one of his favourite jokes was that he was probably the world's only conductor to have operated a train.>>

Fortunately for the musical world, Asahina advanced beyond "I've been working on the railroad"!

The specific recordings Neptune mentioned are all Fontec CD's:
Bruckner 5: FOCD9365/6 (Haas) Live recording, 81' 19", Suntory Hall, March 29, 2000
Bruckner 7: FOCD9367 (Haas) Live recording, 63' 07", Suntory Hall, May 25, 2001
Bruckner 8: FOCD9362/3 (Haas) Live recording, 81' 59", Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space, Sept. 28 and Oct. 1, 1998

Another ordering option: the Fontec online catalog. Search: Asahina Bruckner
https://www.fontec.co.jp/bin/cdd3e.cgi" target="_blank

mammoth2ba wrote:The specific recordings Neptune mentioned are all Fontec CD's

Update......these recordings can now be downloaded from Amazon as .mp3 files. Much easier (and less expensive) than ordering CDs from Japan!

Example:
http://www.amazon.com/Bruckner-Symphony ... 797&sr=8-4" target="_blank