How comforting! Dr. Cohrs' conclusion regarding the first movement - "Bruckner intended the principal movement to have two tempi – a faster, enclosing tempo for the exposition and reprise of the principal theme and last 17 measures of the movement as well as a »bedeutend langsamer« (significantly slower) for the greater part of the movement" - is exactly the same as mine, where I likened the effect of having the opening theme, its return about half way through and at the end in a fester tempo while the bulk of the movement goes slower, to "a double window looking onto geltler pastures outside". Dr. Cohrs also makes the same point about the crotchets of the first theme being approximately equal to the triplet crotchets of the second.
As to whether this means we are both equally right or both equally wrong, anyone can have their own opinion, but I hope those who think the latter will listen carefully to the Keilberth and Horenstein performances that eloquently prove the effectiveness of taking Bruckner's marking seriously.
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