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Tragically, Bruckner's music had to wait until about 50-60 years ago, long after his death, before it started entering the mainstream repertoire of orchestras around the world, somewhat parallel with the Mahler "revival" that started at about the same time. There were a few isolated conductors that programmed some of Bruckner's symphonies (such as Bruno Walter or Otto Klemperer), pretty much the same conductors who also kept Mahler from completely disappearing from the repertoire during the same period.
As "frontline" conductors (such as Haitink, Karajan, or Solti) began discovering Bruckner, a general practice began emerging of the Bruckner symphonies being used (or maybe "exploited"?) as vehicles for showing off the world's strongest brass sections. The more it seemed like the strings were being blown off the front of the stage, the better. This made great fun for brass enthusiasts (like me in my younger days, I'll admit) who simply wanted to showcase their hi-fi sound system, but what nobody seemed to notice was the way Bruckner's music was lost in the tumult.
Most of the recordings that I listened to during this period alternated between really exciting sections of overpowering brass and other quieter sections that seemed sluggishly lifeless. Unfortunately, not knowing any better, I assumed the problem was with Bruckner and not the performers. This situation did not improve much when I got my first surround-sound set of the Bruckner symphonies with Marek Janowski and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.
Then, a few months ago, I was searching for a really good Bruckner Sixth in surround. My favorite at the time was Karajan/Berlin, but I wanted it in Surround, and the Janowski was far too...strange in its approach, as was also the recent Dausgaard/Bergen recording. Both of them charged through the first movement like a Nascar race, completely ignoring Bruckner's "Majestoso" marking.
So out of sheer luck, I gave the Zweden recording a try and....wow, what a revelation it was. It was not, by any means, the most powerful brass showcase I had ever heard, quite far from it, in fact. But whole sections that I had never really paid much attention to suddenly sprang to life and had a profundity that I had never realized was there. Instead of being a series of episodes, alternating between exciting and boring, now the whole symphony had an architectural immensity that was like a whole different sound world.
One thing that was immediately apparent was that Zweden tones down the upper brass (somewhat) in the louder sections, so that more prominence is given to the strings and the lower brass. This gives the overall sound a heft and weight that allows innumerable previously inaudible, hidden details in Bruckner's texture to emerge in a way that illuminates the music anew. It was like looking at a black and white stained glass window, and then having somebody turn on the color so that all the previously unseen details now become obvious.
With this in mind about the Sixth, I decided to take the plunge and get the whole set (even though it meant duplicating the Sixth). I am thrilled to report that the other symphonies are giving me listening experiences very similar to the Sixth. The Fifth in particular, my favorite among the Bruckner Symphonies, has moments of transcendent beauty that I have never heard, thanks to Zweden emphasizing the string and woodwind textures along with allowing the low brass to provide plenty of weight to the sound.
I have just heard Zweden's Bruckner 4th for the first time as I am writing this, and one thing (among numerous others) that really jumped out at me was the richly harmonized chorale section just before the conclusion of the first movement. Most conductors are careful to keep the brass well-balanced here, but it's frequently been difficult to hear what's going on in the rest of the orchestra at this point. In the Zweden recording, he emphasizes the string "motor" figures that give the music its momentum in this section, and he also brings the woodwinds into the mix with the brass so that we now have Bruckner's beautiful harmonies in this section sounding better than ever in my experience.
I do have to admit that, as I have been listening, there are inevitably a few spots here and there where I'm thinking, "Hmm, I would have done that differently," but any set of music as large as this one is always going to have places like that. There is no such thing as a "perfect" set of nine symphonies, be they Beethoven, Mahler, Schubert, or whoever.
But that does not change the fact that Zweden's aural concept of the "Bruckner Sound" is the most beautiful-sounding I have ever encountered (with all due respect for Karajan/Berlin). I think I will have a whole new appreciation for Anton Bruckner after I have lived with this set for a while.
I hope it does the same for you.
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- Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2022
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- Simon RichardsReviewed in the United Kingdom on May 16, 2017
Bruckner from Jaap van Zweden
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