Bruckner in performance - recordings and recent concerts

[Alison]

[BRUCKNER 7 - 2015 PROM 63]

Yes, very much a no fuss rendition of a symphony often given to one of the 'great' orchestras.

Sensible tempi and a pleasing forward momentum. If the last degree of poise was sometimes absent the thorough preparation and lack of ego were ample compensation.

[DracoM]

Brass hefty, Brucknerian, and enjoyed themselves. Strings, a bit thin for my money. Agree about tempi. It was just a bit....well, limp. Sorry.

[jayne lee wilson]

PROM 63. BRUCKNER 7. RSNO/OUNDJIAN.

Taking just a shade over 60 minutes, this was a notably individualistic reading, a Bruckner 7 striking for its flowing, smoothly-integrated tempi, light transparent textures and a sense of the dance in its rhythmic lift against a consistent underlying pulse. The climactic passages were never heavy or solemn and certainly not Wagnerian! This was a Bruckner performance placed in an organic, Schubertian genealogy.

I liked the way Oundjian allowed the little wind figures (always, with Bruckner, thematically relevant) to sing out individually, sounding apart from the broader thematic current, as the Allegro moderato progressed (principal flute deserves the Silver Nightingale Award); notable too in the Scherzo's birdcalls, with a nice sense of the pastoral. Perhaps the rhythms were just a little flat here, we could have done with more schwung - but Oundjian's lightness and restraint, carefully contrasted with the triumph and lamentation of the adagio, really made you listen.
In the adagio itself, the quasi-climaxes earlier in the movement were kept light and clear, and the layered transparency allowed the arpeggiated build-up to the climax (so often lost by conductors too keen on mere decibels of sonority...) to remain coherently audible against the 1st theme's reprise. The climax might not have been overwhelming enough for some (the inclusion of the cymbals offering some compensation, or at least, sensation) but Oundjian made sure it was the focal point. The violins deserve special praise too - so busy in this work, with deft rhythmic accompaniments and sweetly sung leading melodic lines.

Oundjian may have seemed to be understating his own case in the finale's opening paragraphs; but no - with an eagle's eye on Bruckner's dazzling, shapeshifting tonal landscape, he graded dynamics and tempi carefully, excitement and urgency intensifying each time those galumphing brasses returned with another metamorphosis of the Schubertian dance with which the movement begins. As with the coda to the 1st movement, Oundjian's final pages glowed rather than blazed, which for me is truer to the Brucknerian Seventh Spirit - or at least, the way I prefer to hear it now.

This wasn't a technically flawless execution, but the reading is a fascinating one. I'd love to hear them do it again, perhaps with a touch more polish, another nudge or two of Viennese lilt and swing.

[gedsmk]

PROM 63. BRUCKNER 7. BBCSSO/OUNDJIAN.

RSNO....

Otherwise a fascinating and thought-provoking review of a beautifully prepared and gorgeously engaging concert in a surprisingly full RAH.

[edashtav]

PROM 63. BRUCKNER 7. BBCSSO/OUNDJIAN.
[... ]
This wasn't a technically flawless execution, but the reading is a fascinating one. I'd love to hear them do it again, perhaps with a touch more polish, another nudge or two of Viennese lilt and swing.

There's nothing I want to add to Jayne's insightful review of the Bruckner. Thank you, Jayne .

I was saddened to hear Messaien's early Hymne : it's just not representative of mature Messaien, yes it's accessible but no better and maybe worse than many other forgotten French scores of that period. The execution was adequate but not of the quality necessary to shake my belief that this score should retain on the Publisher's shelves.

The Mozart concerto was more enjoyable and this Concert , taken as a whole, was a great success.

[jayne lee wilson]

Looking around tonight for more on Peter Oundjian, I found a Telegraph interview from 10/14, where he says re. Bruckner 7:

"The sound should be fabulously clear in its textures. After all, it comes straight out of Schubert.
As a string quartet player, I did all the late Schubert. Playing those masterpieces is very close to conducting a Bruckner Symphony."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalmusic/11123359/Peter-Oundjian-from-injury-to-triumph.html

It won't get you all the way with 5, 8 and 9 perhaps, and it's not the only Bruckner performance tradition, but I'm delighted that more conductors are seeing, and playing, Bruckner this way - acknowledging the Schubertian style as an essential part of Bruckner's musical language.

Oundjian's comment does make you think & listen again... try the Schubert D 887 scherzo with the one from Bruckner's 1st...
The quartet was only published in 1851, Bruckner's 1st finished by 1866, but even if he hadn't heard it...

(*gedsmk - thanks for correction to #16.)

[P. G. Tipps]

I'm afraid the Bruckner completely lacked 'mystery' for me. This composer is not lyrical Schubert or bombastic Wagner he is Bruckner, for goodness sake!

The whole thing sounded as if the conductor and orchestra couldn't wait to get to the nearest pub as quickly as possible. Where was the natural grandeur and majesty and the composer's simple awe at the miracle of our very existence?

Bruckner 7 needs a slow, steady pace at the very least in the first two movements. The work is surely all about deep contemplation and 'mystery'. Too bad if some can't handle the slow pace, that is their problem certainly not the composer's.

Robert Simpson got it dead right when he said Bruckner, of all composers, requires patience. Sadly, not much of that particular quality was very evident last night.

All in my very humble opinion, of course ...

[Flay]

All in my very humble opinion, of course ...

I thought it was a refreshing performance. There was a lightness, crispness (even from the brass) and clarity that prompted me to remind myself this was coming from the RAH.

Bruckner isn't all bombast. We usually see pictures of him as a miserable looking old man, but surprisingly he was young once, and spent much time chasing young ladies (if only in his head).

He wrote the 7th in his youthful 50s.

[P. G. Tipps]

I thought it was a refreshing performance. There was a lightness, crispness (even from the brass) and clarity that prompted me to remind myself this was coming from the RAH.

Bruckner isn't all bombast. We usually see pictures of him as a miserable looking old man, but surprisingly he was young once, and spent much time chasing young ladies (if only in his head).

He wrote the 7th in his youthful 50s.

Bruckner isn't bombast at all he's the very antithesis of it ... or at least should be!

On the other hand he didn't prance about composing silly love-songs or dwelling on his much-mocked personal and private issues either.

The 7th is a deep, contemplative and majestic work ultimately ending in an optimistic and triumphant resolution.

The 'light Schubertian' brigade may have found the SNO performance 'refreshing' but to me it was almost wholly ruinous apart from the coda which is almost impossible to mess-up in any case!

Still, thank goodness we are all different or we would have absolutely nothing to discuss ...

[Darkbloom]

I'm afraid the Bruckner completely lacked 'mystery' for me. This composer is not lyrical Schubert or bombastic Wagner he is Bruckner, for goodness sake!

The whole thing sounded as if the conductor and orchestra couldn't wait to get to the nearest pub as quickly as possible. Where was the natural grandeur and majesty and the composer's simple awe at the miracle of our very existence?

Bruckner 7 needs a slow, steady pace at the very least in the first two movements. The work is surely all about deep contemplation and 'mystery'. Too bad if some can't handle the slow pace, that is their problem certainly not the composer's.

Robert Simpson got it dead right when he said Bruckner, of all composers, requires patience. Sadly, not much of that particular quality was very evident last night.

All in my very humble opinion, of course ...

I think that's a bit too prescriptive. That whole theory about broad tempi has ruined many a Wagner opera for me, where it becomes about nothing other than a sedate tread towards the finish line, and appeals to a dour breed of German kapellmeisters who treat the music as akin to aural muesli. I think Furtwangler has shown us that you can play Bruckner at a fair lick and make something impressive out of it. It might not appeal to you but it finds something different in the music that I think is equally valid. That warime Bruckner 9 is absolutely crushing in its intensity, and is something I would not want to be without, if not something I can take very often.

[HighlandDougie]

I think that's a bit too prescriptive. That whole theory about broad tempi has ruined many a Wagner opera for me, where it becomes about nothing other than a sedate tread towards the finish line, and appeals to a dour breed of German kapellmeisters who treat the music as akin to aural muesli. I think Furtwangler has shown us that you can play Bruckner at a fair lick and make something impressive out of it. It might not appeal to you but it finds something different in the music that I think is equally valid. That warime Bruckner 9 is absolutely crushing in its intensity, and is something I would not want to be without, if not something I can take very often.

I blame HvK (that 1957 BPO 8th) for the trend of slooowwwww Bruckner, unfortunately taken up by the likes of other - rather lesser - conductors. Eduard van Beinum's 7th sits alongside Furtwängler as a fine counterblast to marmoreal Bruckner.

[P. G. Tipps]

I think that's a bit too prescriptive. That whole theory about broad tempi has ruined many a Wagner opera for me, where it becomes about nothing other than a sedate tread towards the finish line, and appeals to a dour breed of German kapellmeisters who treat the music as akin to aural muesli. I think Furtwangler has shown us that you can play Bruckner at a fair lick and make something impressive out of it. It might not appeal to you but it finds something different in the music that I think is equally valid. That warime Bruckner 9 is absolutely crushing in its intensity, and is something I would not want to be without, if not something I can take very often.

You make a fair point ... Furtwangler's 1942 Fifth works amazingly well too.

However, a brisk 7th sounds quite ridiculous to my ears but obviously not to others here.

Never mind!

[Darkbloom]

You make a fair point ... Furtwangler's 1942 Fifth works amazingly well too.

However, a brisk 7th sounds quite ridiculous to my ears but obviously not to others here.

Never mind!

I agree, with the exception of the last couple of minutes when he takes it way too fast and ruins what is surely one of the most majestic endings to a symphony there has ever been. He gets carried away at the last and the momentum dissipates.

[Barbirollians]

I blame HvK (that 1957 BPO 8th) for the trend of slooowwwww Bruckner, unfortunately taken up by the likes of other - rather lesser - conductors. Eduard van Beinum's 7th sits alongside Furtwängler as a fine counterblast to marmoreal Bruckner.

try also Barbirolli's live 8th on BBC Legends - wonderfully propulsive

[Nick Armstrong]

try also Barbirolli's live 8th on BBC Legends - wonderfully propulsive

Likewise Tennstedt's studio LPO recording on EMI