I was aware of Mr. Hurwitz's critique of Markus Poschner's interpretation of Bruckner's 7th Symphony on the Capriccio label.

I was merely noting that the notion that Markus Poschner "has proved to be hugely erratic throughout the cycle" is likely a questionable statement. However, considering Poschner has made 18 recordings of different versions of Anton Bruckner's symphonies in the "Complete Versions edition" for the Capriccio label, his success rate could be considered reasonably good by some standards.

If there is any sort of "consensus" around the 18 recordings of Bruckner symphonies conducted by Markus Poschner on the Capriccio label, it is that of the recording of the 8th Symphony in the 1890 version with the Bruckner Orchester Linz. In my view, this version is one of the best to have ever been released -- and many reviewers agree that this recording is an outstanding one.

As for the Utah Symphony, its more recent recorded legacy since it moved into Abravanel Hall in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, in September 1979, has been intermittent at best -- compared to the many dozens of recordings made and released during Maurice Abravanel's tenure as music director (1947-1979) of the orchestra.

Under its most recent music director, Thierry Fischer (2009-2023), the Utah Symphony was able to record 9 commercial albums, four on Reference Recordings, and then five on Hyperion Records, but these recordings only began in 2014.

Whether Reference Recordings or Hyperion Records will again approach the orchestra (or vice versa) to make some new commercial recordings under music director designate (since late November 2024) Markus Poschner is unclear at the moment. There is a distant possibility that Capriccio might be interested in recording the Utah Symphony under Markus Poschner for some future commercial releases.

In the end, funding to make such commercial recordings is not easy to come by, even with the Utah Symphony/Utah Opera's combined annual budget of $29 million. The two organizations have been a merged one since 2002, and the Utah Symphony has always placed for Utah Opera productions, which began in 1978 (there are four opera productions of 5 performances each from October through May).

The Utah Symphony is one of only 16 year-round, full-time, 52 week professional orchestras in the United States. In my opinion, the caliber of its playing is superb every week. It is a major US orchestra, but since it became a full-time orchestra after it moved into Abravanel Hall, it has not had the financial resources to tour nationally in the US or internationally to Europe other than about every 20-25 years.

The notion that the Utah Symphony is somehow a "second tier" orchestra among major US orchestras is a relic of the distant past. Unfortunately, that idea is still at times prevalent among some reviewers of classical music recordings.

But back to the Bruckner symphonies: Markus Poschner is scheduled to lead two performances of Bruckner's 4th Symphony (presumably the 1878-1880 version edition) with the Utah Symphony in May 2026.

In its history, the Utah Symphony has performed almost all of the numbered Bruckner symphonies (not of course in all of the now 18 "versions" editions of the 11 symphonies), except the Symphony in F minor, Symphony No. 1, and Symphony No.2. Hopefully Poschner will program those three symphonies during his tenure as music director of the orchestra.

Markus Poschner is the type of quality conductor and musician that the Utah Symphony needed to hire as music director in the wake of the transformational tenure of Thierry Fischer.