I just can't get into Bruckner

The Prazak is superb as ever and the recording at the usual very high standards of Praga. It is couple with the magnificent Mozart's one in g minor, in a magnificent performance by perhaps the greatest living String Quartet and the great violist Jan Talich.

I don't doubt that the much older recording of Decca (on Australian Eloquence now) should be a great performance too. I'm not sure about the level of the recording.

Parla

Jane, 

It's not just Bruckner! Over the years the Vienna Philharmonic have consistently treated not only composers but conductors (and no doubt many others). It seems to be an integral part of their history.

But after a few bars music......... Ahhh!

Chris 

Thank you Jane: appreciated!

Chris

I thought this morning's edition of CD review was interesting when it came to reviewing four recent new releases (3rd by Oramo & Janowski, 7th by Runnicles & FW-M). While I am not very much in agreement with Edward Seckerson in general he was quite interesting in discussing the Runnicles, which he felt leaned more towards the world of Schubert rather than the monumentality of some other interpretations. The short extract of the Rinnicles almost convinced me to seek out a copy... but that can wait I think.

One other comment made me chuckle, given the thread. Seckerson said something about being a bit tired of everybody trying to make architecture out of Bruckner and he even mentioned humour in the finale of the third! All grist to the mill...

To derail a bit further on Franz Schmidt's Piano Quintet, there are two more very fine recordings with quite interesting couplings:

a) The one in Orfeo (an old one) with some solid soloists, coupled with the other Piano Quintet for Clarinet and String Trio in B flat and

b) the older Sony recording of the original version for Piano left hand, with Leon Fleisher, J. Silverstein, J. Laredo, M. Tree and Yo Yo Ma, coupled with the wonderful Suite for Two Violins, Cello and Piano left hand by Korngold.

Parla

P.S.: Excellent gesture towards Chris, Jane. Brava!

Just
looking at some of the remarks about Karajan. Stephen Johnson seems to treat
Karajan's Bruckner performances with disdain, particularly note his remarks on the BBC. Karajan does seem to have gone out of fashion with some critics. I have some of his
performances on LP, I don't think they stand up that well to CD conversion.

As with Wagner's various unpalatable views, you can't get away
from the fact that Karajan was a member of the Nazi party. This surely must
affect peoples' views when he takes on Jewish composers such as Mendelssohn or
Mahler. In fact I feel slightly reluctant to put this down, but it is a case in point that needs to be made..

DSM

Thanks for the recommendations re: Bruckner's String Quintet. Will check some out, but right now I've got a pile of new symphony cd's hat'll keep me busy for a while (in addition to the ones I already mentioned I also got Schuricht's VPO 5th on DG - because I loved his 8th. Curious to know if it'll manage to dethrone Klemperer as my favorite.)

The one the gives me most trouble finding the "perfect" cd is still the 6th.

Klemperer is monumental in the outer moments and mercurial in the scherzo, but the heart of the symphony, the adagio (the most beautiful one ever written, i.m.o.) comes off rather slick and uninvolved in his recording.

Celibidache is just too slow. I find it admirable how he manages to keep the music flowing in a natural way at such tempi, but Bruckner isn't Mahler, though the adagio has some strong foreshadowings.

Jochum (both DG and EMI) comes close, but I can't suppress the feeling that the 6th wasn't his favorite symphony. Same for the otherwise underrated Inbal.

Ferdinand Leitner (dangerous outsider!) recorded a great 6th, coupled to an even greater Hartmann 6th (worth getting the cd for alone) - but after the beautifully played adagio it's like Leitner loses his grip of the symphony, resulting in a so-so scherzo and finale.

Furtwängler's sadly truncated 1944 recording had fairly good sound and perhaps the best adagio.

Keilberth's approach is very flowing and lyrical and I can see why many people quote it as their favorite (it gotta be the polar opposite of Klemperer's "granite" performance) but the adagio is a bit too hurried and fleeting for my taste.

I've also got a curious 6th, included in an ultra-cheap box (Centurion Classics) with some very intesting items, like Georg Jochum's 1st and 2nd, Kna's rather horrible 3rd, Abendroth's marvellous and sadly underrated 4th and 5th and Furtwängler's classic 7th, 8th and 9th. The labeling is outrageously erroneous, with wrong dates, even wrong orchestras and
conductors. Ultra-budget labels just don't give a ****. It took me some time investigating online to clear up the
mess, with the help of this great website: http://www.abruckner.com/ (I mailed the webmaster to clear up some recording dates, and he was very helpful). The 6th in this box is played by the Vienna Festival Orchestra under Swarowski, according to the sleeve - which would be a very nice find, if it wasn't for the fact that Swarowski never recorded the 6th... it appears to be some bogus labeling of a performance by the infamous Alfred Scholtz. It doesn't sound that bad, though - a pretty solid performance.

So my hopes are on the Horst Stein 6th. Unfortunately it appears to be hard to get, with Dutch cd-shopes either ridiculously overpricing it or having delivery times of up to a month (mostly an indication that the cd is unavialable anyway).

EDIT: I just revisited abruckner.com and was surprised to see (among other nice things) Georg Jochum's 6th as a free download here: http://www.abruckner.com/downloads/downloadofthemonth/

It's an expansive, intense and monumental performance, closely matching Furtwängler in style in the adagio. The outer moments suffer a bit too much of "Jochum-itis", crescendo getting hand in hand with accelerando. Curious to hear that not only his big brother had this outdated habit. On the plus side the orchestra plays marvellously, it's audibly first-rate, challenging even Furtwängler's Berliner (just listen to the 1st movement's coda!) The 1944 recording is fair, grainy but warm sounding mono, which only gets badly congested in the climaxes. A great find, this recording.

Also, read the description at the site. I've heard some bad things about Karajan's behavour in the war, but this beats everything. Trying to ditch a fellow conductor by complotting to send him to the front (a possible death sentence) in order to take over his position as chief of Hitler's elite orchestra? A good thing I've never been a fan of Karajan (for artistic, not political reasons), otherwise listening to his recordings would give me a bad aftertaste.