Bruckner: The Complete Symphonies
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CD Details
Composer: Anton BrucknerConductor: Eugen Jochum
Orchestra: Dresden Staatskapelle
Edition: Music CD
Format: Box set, Limited Edition, Original recording reissued
CD Release Date: 2000-11-07
Music Label: EMI Classics
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
- Sym No.1 in c: I. Allegro
- Sym No.1 in c: II. Adagio
- Sym No.1 in c: III. Scherzo: Schnell
- Sym No.1 in c: IV. Finale: Bewegt, Feurig
- Sym No.2 in c: I. Moderato
- Sym No.2 in c: II. Andante
- Sym No.2 in c: III. Scherzo: Massig Schnell
- Sym No.2 in c: IV. Finale: Mehr Schnell
- Sym No.3 in d: I. Mehr Langsam, Misterioso
- Sym No.3 in d: II. Adagio (Bewegt) Quasi Andante
- Sym No.3 in d: III. Ziemlich Bewegt
- Sym No.3 in d: IV. Allegro
- Sym No.4 in E flat 'Romantic': I. Bewegt, Nicht Zu Schnell
- Sym No.4 in E flat 'Romantic': II. Andante Quasi Allegretto
- Sym No.4 in E flat 'Romantic': III. Scherzo: Bewegt - Trio: Nicht Zu Schnell
- Sym No.4 in E flat 'Romantic': IV. Finale: Bewegt, Doch Nicht Zu Schnell
- Sym No.5 in B flat: I. Intro: Adagio - Allegro
- Sym No.5 in B flat: II. Adagio - Sehr Langsam
- Sym No.5 in B flat: III. Scherzo: Molto Vivace - Schnell
- Sym No.5 in B flat: IV. Finale: Allegro Moderato
- Sym No.6 in A: I. Maestoso
- Sym No.6 in A: II. Adagio: Sehr Feierlich
- Sym No.6 in A: III. Scherzo: Nicht Schnell - Trio: Langsam
- Sym No.6 in A: IV. Finale: Bewegt, Doch Nicht Zu Schnell
- Sym No.7 in E: I. Allegro Moderato
- Sym No.7 in E: II. Adagio: Sehr Feierlich Und Sehr Langsam
- Sym No.7 in E: III. Scherzo: Sehr Schnell - Trio: Etwas Langsamer
- Sym No.7 in E: IV. Finale: Bewegt, Doch Nicht Zu Schnell
- Sym No.8 in c: I. Allegro Moderato
- Sym No.8 in c: II. Scherzo: Allegro Moderato
- Sym No.8 in c: III. Adagio: Fierelich Langsam, Doch Nicht Schleppend
- Sym No.8 in c: IV. Finale: Feierlich, Nicht Schnell
- Sym No.9 in d: I. Feierlich, Misterioso
- Sym No.9 in d: II. Scherzo: Bewegt, Lebhaft - Trio: Schnell
- Sym No.9 in d: III. Adagio - Langsam, Feierlich
Music reviews of Bruckner: The Complete Symphonies
Music Review: A good, but not great, Bruckner cycle.
Rating: 3 Stars
Ideally, I wanted to review the DG Jochum cycle, since I actually prefer that one, but it's NLA as of this posting, so I'll just make some comments about both cycles here.
Eugen Jochum may have been the greatest advocate of Bruckner, of the 20th Century. However, I have lived with this cycle, and especially the DG one, for many years now, and I have come to view his Bruckner interpretations as somewhat overrated, even in comparison with his "old school Bruckner" colleagues. Perhaps my opinion is a little skewed by overexposure, but I have other recordings I turn to more frequently that have not started to "wear" on me as much as some of Jochums. For one example, I am not, by any means, a "Karajan freak" (I have also come to view his last VPO Eighth, over which most people seem to be "ga ga," a bit overrated, as well) but I find his full DG cycle from the 70's and early 80's, for one, to be more consistently satisfying, with the exception of the first, fourth, and sixth, in all of which Jochum is clearly better, imo. I must say I do get tired of the cliches' about Karajan's performances being too "cool, polished, and sterile," and Haitink's being too "light," etc. These preconceptions, often based on preconcieved opinions about the conductors themselves, precludes people from really having to seriously consider their recordings, just as the opposite preconception that Jochum is THE Brucknerian of the century tends to make his recorded preformances somehow beyond reproach.
Based on Jochum's reputation, I eagerly awaited the DG cycle, back at a time in the late 80's when I was first getting into Bruckner when there were relatively few Bruckner recordings in print. Even on first listening, there were certain things about his interpretations that didn't sound right to me. Admittedly, at that time, I knew virtually nothing of the "old school," with its more flexible tempi, dynamics, and more dramatic approach, to Bruckner. Since then, I have become very well acquainted with recordings of the "old school" Bruckner conductors such as Schuricht (his 1943 Ninth is one of my ten favorites), Furtwangler (his 1944 Ninth might BE my favorite), Hausegger, Kabasta, Abendroth, Matacic; Walter and Horenstein's mono recordings, etc. etc...and I still don't find many of Jochum's interpretations to compare all that favorably.
One thing you can say with some degree of confidence about Jochum is that most of his interpretations are amazingly consistent over a half century of recordings. Compare his recordings of the Fourth and Seventh from the late 1930's to those from his later DG and EMI cycles, and they are remarkably similar, both in terms of timings, tempos, and phrasing. Two examples of "Jochumisms" that have come to grate on me a bit over time are: 1) As much as I love most of his Fourth, esp. the finale, which I think he "nails" better than any other conductor, I feel that he turns the andante quasi allegretto into an adagio (in general, I can never understand why many conductors insist upon turning this flowing movement into a dirge); 2) The slow tempo he chooses for the lovely "enchanted forest" motif (as I call it) that flows out of the beautiful intro of the Seventh, which ultimately steers the whole first movement toward a slow and stodgy tempo. Jochum's Seventh almost sounds like it starts out with two adagios. His first movement isn't excessively slow in terms of it's total timing (and I've noticed that many listeners pay too much attention to timings anyway), but in terms of it's lack of flexibility and flow: there are readings of this movement a minute of two longer (like Chailly, for example, although I think his Seventh is a bit overrated) that still have a better sense of ebb and flow to them. Some examples of sevenths I prefer to Jochum's are Sinopoli's; Karajan 70's DG; Inbal's; Wand's 70's Cologne recording; Furtwangler's 1951 BPO (Rome); Abendroth's 1956 recording; and Haitink's 70's recording.
Jochum's Fifth was one of the biggest disappointments of my Bruckner collection, esp. after all of the things I had heard about it's legendary status. Although I think his inner movements are just fine (except the slow movement of his 1938 Fifth, which I found a little too slow), I think he is too slow--and even more importantly not flexible enough--in the all important outer movements. But the "Jochumism" that grates on me the most, in ALL of his recordings, is his excessive stretching out of the coda of the finale, made even less convincing by the lack of a strong underpinning of timpani. Karajan (whose DG Fifth was my first, and is still my favorite, followed by Horenstein, Welser-Most, and Gielen) augmented this thrilling coda--Bruckner's best, even better than the Eighth's, if it's done properly--with an extra set of timpani, and very effectively. If any of you are rolling your eyes (esp. you "Karajan-bashers") at Karajan's use of extra timpani, remember that Jocum augmented the brass section for the famous chorale of the Fifth's finale...this is part of what the vanishing art of interpretation is all about. On the subject of timpani, one of the characteristics of the Bruckner "old school" was the ideal that the Bruckner orchestra started from the ground (bass) up, and needed a strong underpinning of timpani (too often missing in recent recordings), esp. in climactic moments: Furtwangler's recordings provided the best example of this; most of Jochum's recordings are surprisingly lacking in powerful timpani, and this is particularly exposed in his somewhat melodramatic lengthening of the Fifth's final coda.
In general, I find Jochum's Eighth and Ninth to be a bit terse, except for his readings of the third movement of the Ninth, which was consistently one of his best movements, esp. his Dresden recording. If his readings of 1-7--except, again, his 1,4, and 6, which I find generally excellent--tended to lack flexibility on the slow side, the outer movements of his Eighth and the first movement of his Ninths tended to lack flexibility on the fast side. One very notable exception, however, is his 1949 Hamburg Eighth, which is my very favorite Jochum recording, and perhaps one of my ten favorite Eighths overall. He gets everything right here, with a good amount of flexibility...which makes it even more puzzling to me that the outer movements of his later recordings of the Eighth were so terse by comparison.
As far as the merits of the DG cycle versus the EMI, again, there is very little to choose as far as interpretations: they are remarkably similar. The only difference that really jumped out at me was that the first movement of the Dresden Ninth was not only a little too terse, but strangely "herky jerky" in terms of some awkward tempo relations, which create more distraction than tension. Although I feel that the adagio of the Dresden Ninth is Jochum's most searching account of this movement, I still like the Ninth from the DG set a bit better.
In terms of recorded sound, again I'd have to give the nod to the DG cycle. The older DG recordings sound more natural to me, whereas the late analog EMI recordings are a bit too brightly lit, almost sounding like early digital in places. The seemingly endless permutations of packaging, repackaging, and recoupling of both of these cycles, and the individual recordings from them, has become a bit absurd, but at least it has made it very easy to pick up most of these recordings in used CD bins.
Description of Bruckner: The Complete Symphonies
All products are BRAND NEW and factory sealed. Fast shipping and 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed.Here's a welcome box of all Bruckner's numbered symphonies led by a distinguished specialist renowned during his lifetime for his identification with the composer. Neatly laid out with each symphony on a disc of its own (no annoying midsymphony changeovers) and in top-quality late-1970s sound, this is an irresistible bargain for such superb performances. Jochum's Bruckner was spontaneous-sounding, with generally swift tempos tempered by flexible rhythms and slow movements that squeeze all the juice from this heartfelt music. The Dresden orchestra is a marvelous instrument for these works, with a beefy, warm sound and brass players that can whip up the excitement in the grand climaxes. Individual conductors, whether vintage greats like Furtwängler or more recent Brucknerians such as Wand on RCA and Tintner on Naxos, may equal or better Jochum in individual works, but taken as a complete traversal of these massive scores, Jochum's is second to none. --Dan Davis
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