Bruckner: The Symphonies

Bruckner: The Symphonies

Bruckner: The Symphonies
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CD Details

Composer: Anton Bruckner
Conductor: Bernard Haitink
Orchestra: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Edition: Music CD
Format: Box set
CD Release Date: 2005-10-11
Music Label: Philips
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
  1. Symphony No.0 in D minor - Original version - 1. Allegro - Poco meno mosso
  2. Symphony No.0 in D minor - Original version - 2. Andante sostenuto
  3. Symphony No.0 in D minor - Original version - 3. Scherzo (Presto) - Trio (Langsamer und ruhiger)
  4. Symphony No.0 in D minor - Original version - 4. Finale (Moderato: Andante - Allegro vivace)
  5. Symphony No.1 in C minor - "Linz Version" 1866 - 1. Allegro molto moderato
  6. Symphony No.1 in C minor - "Linz Version" 1866 - 2. Adagio
  7. Symphony No.1 in C minor - "Linz Version" 1866 - 3. Scherzo. Lebhaft
Music CD 2
  1. Symphony No.1 in C minor - "Linz Version" 1866 - 4. Finale. Bewegt und feurig
  2. Symphony No.2 in C minor - 1. Ziemlich schnell
  3. Symphony No.2 in C minor - 2. Adagio. Feierlich, etwas bewegt
  4. Symphony No.2 in C minor - 3. Scherzo. Schnell
  5. Symphony No.2 in C minor - 4. Finale. Mehr schnell - Sehr schnell
Music CD 3
  1. Symphony No.3 in D minor - Version 1877 - 1. Gemässigt, mehr bewegt, Misterioso
  2. Symphony No.3 in D minor - Version 1877 - 2. Adagio, bewegt, quasi Andante
  3. Symphony No.3 in D minor - Version 1877 - 3. Scherzo (Ziemlich schnell)
  4. Symphony No.3 in D minor - Version 1877 - 4. Finale (Allegro)
Music CD 4
  1. Symphony No.4 in E flat major - "Romantic" - Version 1878/1880 - 1. Bewegt, nicht zu schnell
  2. Symphony No.4 in E flat major - "Romantic" - Version 1878/1880 - 2. Andante quasi allegretto
  3. Symphony No.4 in E flat major - "Romantic" - Version 1878/1880 - 3. Scherzo (Bewegt) - Trio (Nicht zu schnell. Keinesfalls schleppend)
  4. Symphony No.4 in E flat major - "Romantic" - Version 1878/1880 - 4. Finale (Bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell)
Music CD 5
  1. Symphony No.5 in B flat major - 1. Introduction (Adagio) - Allegro (Mä�ig)
  2. Symphony No.5 in B flat major - 2. Adagio (Sehr langsam)
  3. Symphony No.5 in B flat major - 3. Scherzo (Molto vivace, schnell) - Trio. Im gleichenTempo
  4. Symphony No.5 in B flat major - 4. Finale (Adagio - Allegro moderato)
Music CD 6
  1. Symphony No.6 in A major - Original version - 1. Maestoso
  2. Symphony No.6 in A major - Original version - 2. Adagio (Sehr feierlich)
  3. Symphony No.6 in A major - Original version - 3. Scherzo (Nicht schnell) - Trio (Langsam)
  4. Symphony No.6 in A major - Original version - 4. Finale (Bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell)
Music CD 7
  1. Symphony No.7 in E major - 1. Allegro moderato
  2. Symphony No.7 in E major - 2. Adagio (Sehr feierlich und sehr langsam)
  3. Symphony No.7 in E major - 3. Scherzo (Sehr schnell)
  4. Symphony No.7 in E major - 4. Finale (Bewegt, doch nicht schnell)
Music CD 8
  1. Symphony No.8 in C minor - 1. Allegro moderato
  2. Symphony No.8 in C minor - 2. Scherzo (Allegro moderato) - Trio
  3. Symphony No.8 in C minor - 3. Adagio (Feierlich langsam, aber nicht schleppend)
  4. Symphony No.8 in C minor - 4. Finale (Feierlich, nicht schnell)
Music CD 9
  1. Symphony No.9 in D minor - 1. Feierlich. Misterioso
  2. Symphony No.9 in D minor - 2. Scherzo (Bewegt lebhaft) - Trio (Schnell) - Scherzo da capo
  3. Symphony No.9 in D minor - 3. Adagio (Langsam, feierlich)

Music reviews of Bruckner: The Symphonies

Music Review: HAITINK'S EARLY BRUCKNER CYCLE
Rating: 5 Stars

This was my first Bruckner cycle (in its earlier black-box incarnation), and the date was October 11, 1996. Only while writing the check for it, did I remember that this day was the centennial of Bruckner's death. Say what you want, but it was a happy omen.

Back in college I had listened to some of these performances on LP, and wanted to get back to them. The first thing to emerge was how much better these CDs sound than those wretched, domestic 1960s Philips LPs. It was clear that until now, I hadn't really HEARD these performances...The Philips engineers (including the late Jaap von Ginneken) KNEW WHAT THEY WERE DOING. Thanks to their craftsmanship, we can relish the distinctive "tang" of the post-war Concertgebouw - that is, before the onset of the Post-Jet, Post-Karajan "International" Sound.

It goes without saying that only the mediocre are equally good at everything - or ALL the works in a given cycle. Haitink does better with some of these symphonies than others. Still, a newcomer to Bruckner could hardly go wrong with any of these performances, except maybe the 8th (more on that later). They are all FRESH - even the least successful of them. This is because Bernard Haitink & Philips wisely chose not to plow through the whole cycle within a year or so: they took their time - 9 years, in fact (1963-72).

The "0" Symphony (June 1966) receives a truly sympathetic performance and recording. The Concertgebouw woodwinds make a bittersweet feast of the more plaintive passages in the 2nd movement. And Haitink wisely plays the very opening "straight ahead," not trying to make the "nebulae" motifs as doom-laden or dramatic a Brucknerian "fingerprint" as they would become in the later symphonies. Still, everything comes off - in a work that often "goes for nothing." (Bruckner's VERY first Symphony, the F Minor "00", another work which often "goes for nothing", is not included in this box. Still, any true Brucknerian should have it, and the 1992 Inbal/Teldec does nicely.)

The 1st (May 1972), actually the last to be recorded, is rather aggressive (i.e., in a good way), brimming with daring and "intestinal fortitude". This is hardly the "unimaginative" performance of which Haitink has too often been accused. (I would add that Haitink's recent peformances show a Second Spring on his part : they have an energy and daring which he sometimes lacked at the outset of his career - i.e., in the early 1960s, when he was thrust into the "shoes" of Eduard van Beinum at a tender age.) In any case, the Bruckner 1st featured here is, thankfully, the 1866 "Linz" version, and the only "adjacent" competition to this performance might be Jochum's 1960s DG Berlin.

The May 1969 2nd (Haas edition) may be the greatest performance in the box - and for my money the best 2nd ever recorded. In THE ESSENCE OF BRUCKNER, Robert Simpson points out the deleted 1872 passages which Haas restored to Bruckner's 1877 revision; he approves of all but one, in the second movment: the "repeat" of a solo-horn-and-woodwind passage, ending with a lone, climbing bassoon line. This performance is absolutely complete, but I think you would find it not a moment too long. Haitink and the Concertgebouworkest bring out such a subtle, "tangy" sheen in the strings, project such a purity of spirit, that they all seem to be possessed by the ghost of Eduard Van Beinum (who never recorded a Bruckner 2nd). In spite of characteristic "fingerpints" in the "00", "0", and the 1st, it was only in the 2nd that Bruckner really began to evolve his own kind of structure. You might say that this stretch of symphonic territory, initially staked out by Schubert in his "Unfinished" & "Great", had been abandoned until Bruckner reached this point. (Incidentally, 1877 was also when Brahms at last achieved the definitive form of his SYMPHONY NO. 1.)

The October 1963 3rd (1878 edition) is actually the earliest recording in this box. (The 8th is from September 1969, not 1960, as an uncorrected typo would have it. ) Now, I confess a greater preference for the craggier, less "symmetrical" 1873 edition of the 3rd. (The 1982 Inbal/Teldec is superb, and so is the 2004 Nugano/Harmonia Mundi. Between them, the Nugano is a bit better played and recorded, but Inbal's grasp of pacing and structure is slightly more convincing: take your pick.) Still, if you must have the better-known 1878 edition, IMHO this performance is the one to have. It is far more fleet and unassuming than Haitink's rather lugubrious 1988 remake with the Vienna Philharmonic. This 1963 3rd was the first disc I took out of the box, and it pulled me in.

The 4th (May 1965) is one of the best in stereo - but I cannot help comparing it with the live 1956 Van Beinum 4th (also with the Concertgebouwokest). Somehow, EVB struck an even more convincing balance between grandeur and humility...As did Jochum in his 1954 Bavarian Radio 4th (only available through amazon's German site). Still, as an introduction to the 4th, you could do a lot worse.

The 5th (December 1971) was also my introduction to THIS symphony. It struck me then (and it strikes me now) as just a bit too "serenely objective". This impression was confirmed when I finally tumbled onto EVB's live 1959 5th (his very last recording, by the way) and Jochum's 1964 5th - both with the Concertgebouworkest. Unfortunately, Jochum was convinced that the 5th's Finale required extra brass. I have not heard Jochum's live 1986 Concertgebouw Fifth, but his '64 and his 1980 Dresden Staatskapell 5ths are marred by some out-of-tune playing from those "extras." (With merely the "regular" Concertgebouw brass, Van Beinum achieves all the "intestinal fortitude" necessary in the Finale's coda - AND beautifully in tune.) Still, in all fairness to Jochum, he had a uniquely exciting way with the 5th, which he believed to be Bruckner's greatest symphony. If you must have Jochum's 5th, go with his 1957 Bavarian Radio on DG.

With its many potentially awkward transition points and "gear shifts" (at least in the outer movements), the 6th may be the toughest of Bruckner's nuts to crack. Rarely will you find a great conductor and a great orchestra (in the same hall at the same time - that's the catch) who UNDERSTAND this work. What we usually get is a 6th, played and conducted in light of the 4th, 5th, 7th or 8th and "Here's this odd thing of Bruckner's and let's a GO at it shall we." The Haitink 6th (December 1970) was, at first, my favorite. (At the risk of a well-aimed bolt of lightning, I find Klemperer's fabled 1964 6th a tad overrated. Yes, it's excellent, but the Philharmonia, for all their collective genius, were NOT a Bruckner orchestra - compared to the Concertgebouw, the Berlin, the Bavarian Radio, or even Inbal's North German Radio. They just weren't.) Now, Haitink and the Concertgebouworkest inscribe an almost supernatural performance - even if the Finale is a little brisk. Still, it "works", and then some. But if you can find it, the 1969 Steinberg/Boston account grasps the 6th's "DNA" better than any other...What had seemed "quirky" and inconsequential becomes not only logical, but enchanting: an alpine village progression from late summer to Christmas Festival, if you like.

The 7th (November 1966) is up against formidable competition. In terms of hi-fi alone, this includes Van Beinum's 1947 and 1953 Deccas (and yes, they are both "hi-fi"), and several by Jochum. My personal favorites: the 1947 EVB (in Dutton's transfer, which captures and enhances the original sound AND eliminates the infamous early Decca "ground hum" far better than the Tahra edition), and the surprisingly hi-fi 1952 Berlin Jochum (on Tahra, if you can find it). Jochum's recently re-issued 1939 Vienna 7th (on Hanssler) has perhaps his most "trauerisch" second movement, but the Viennese turn in one of their sloppier performances; and the vague, rather undifferentiated articulation detracts from the momentum of the scherzo and the finale. Haitink's 1966 7th is indeed a convincing, beautifully rounded account, and one would not go wrong with it. Still, one can do better.

The 8th (September 1969, not 1960) is the weak link in this "chain". Compared with Haitink's own later version of 1981 and Van Beinum's 1955, and next to Jochum's 1949 Hamburg or Karajan's early stereo 1957 (to name a few), it simply doesn't deliver the INNER drama and spirituality that a Bruckner 8th must-have-or-what's-the-point. While it is ceratainly PLAYED well enough, I suspect that, in 1969, Haitink had yet to grasp "the measure" of this work. (In time, he did - let it be said !) The 8th was my "first" Bruckner symphony (Karajan '57); I would not recommend this 1969 8th as anyone's "first". You might not be "put off", but unless you already knew the 8th, you would miss the CORE.

The 9th (December 1965) is fantastic, and competes securely with Jochum's 1954 Bavarian Radio and 1960s Berlin accounts, as well as the 1998 Wildner (with "realized" 4th movement - see my review). Haitink takes the Scherzo a mite slower than Jochum and others (Furtwangler flogged it like an old-horse-ready-to-drop) - but this allows those unsettling harmonies to sink in, all the more effectively. The first movement and finale are also riveting. I know I am in a minority, here, but Van Beinum's 1956 9th strikes me as lacking the energy and conviction of his live 4th & 5th, either of his 7ths, or his 1955 8th. Thankfully, there IS a more inspired van Beinum Bruckner 9th, recorded live in January 1941. (I believe it is available from SDA.) The recording is hardly hi-fi - or even mid-fi - but this white-hot performance, featuring a more Mahlerian-Mengelbergian sound from the wartime Concertgebouw - will pull you in.

So there you have it. You WILL need another 8th, but there are several hi-fi choices for that: Van Beinum's 1955; Haitink's 1981; any of Jochum's; Karajan's 1957 or 1989. Still, this box grants us nearly perfect performances of "0", 1, 2 and 3 (1878 edition); and can't miss, can't-go-wrong versions of 4, 5, 6, 7 and 9.

More Bruckner: The Symphonies free music reviews:
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