Prom 53,
Bruckner
Symphony No. 8 in C minor :
(1890 Nowak edition)
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra,
Bernard Haitink
(conductor)
24 .8. 2007 (AVE)
This was the first time I had heard Haitink
conduct the Leopold Novak edition of Anton
Bruckner’s
Eighth Symphony
in C minor
and it certainly sounded musically more convincing
and satisfying than the Robert Haas Edition.
Throughout the
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra played beautifully -
rather too beautifully - smoothing out the
rugged and raw orchestral textures that constitute
the ‘Bruckner sound’.
Whilst Haitink articulated a sense of distinct
architectural structure and line, letting the
music ‘be itself’ devoid of interpretative
mannerisms, yet there was little sense of
unfolding drama and nervous tension, and in the
climax
the trumpets, horns and timpani lacked emotional
charge and intensity despite being very well
played. The brass and timpani should sound
absolutely terrifying, but here
Haitink’s polite and pristine conducting toned
them all down and he seemed much more concerned
with the beauty of sound for sound’s sake rather
than with the unleashing of power and drama.
Haitink’s well-mannered and phlegmatic temperament
seems to me to be too tame for Bruckner – as well
as for Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Wagner, Strauss,
and Mahler - composers whom Haitink tends to tone
down. I remember years ago a record shop assistant
in St. Paul’s always saying to his customers:
“You’re safer with Haitink”
– yet music is not about being ‘safe’ – and
certainly not in Bruckner – the most unsafe of
composers!
The Scherzo
came off slightly better, with much more bite and
thrust; again very well played as expected and
well paced but still too tame and lacking in
dynamic and emotional contrasts; the rich
melodious strings were wonderful in lyrical
passages and were well juxtaposed with the
punctuating brass; there was much more
intensity here than in the rather sedate first
movement.
In the
Adagio
– arguably the greatest slow movement ever written
- Haitink secured a strong sense of unfolding
structure and architectural line, allowing the
music to flow all on its own as if on autopilot.
Here the Concertgebouw Orchestra were in their
element, with warmly expressive playing from the
mellow
Wagner tubas,
woodwinds and strings; never over sentimentally
sweet but still most moving. The gradual build to
the central climax was very well judged if rather
too regimented and sedated, but the closing bars
were so serene and caressing with mellow brass and
soft strings; if only our British orchestras could
play so sensitively! The audience was absolutely
attentive and transfixed: this was the
Concertgebouw at its best.
The
Finale
can often sound like an anarchic circus displaying
a disconnected ragbag of sensational sounds, but
Haitink was able to hold the juxtaposing tempos
and textures together and again he had a grip over
the rather wayward structure of this manic
movement, but failed to make the monstrous music
ignite and erupt.
The closing coda was well held together but again
simply lacked power and weight, and here the
rather uncouth audience robbed the music of its
concluding silences by applauding prematurely.
Haitink had actually stated that he had hoped that
this Prom audience would allow “a breathing space”
for the music to die away in an aura of silence –
as was the case with his recent Barbican Centre
Mahler
Third Symphony
with the Berlin Philharmonic where the more mature
and musical audience were silent for thirty
seconds, allowing Mahler’s silence to be heard and
being felt.
David Cairns wrote of the recent recording with
Haitink and the Concertgebouw Orchestra:
“Bernard Haitink has given fine performances of
Bruckner Eight before, but he has now absorbed the
mighty work so deeply into his being that every
tempo and phrase and accent seems right and
predestined.”
Tonight the one thing Haitink appeared not to have
done is absorbed Bruckner’s 8th
Symphony into his being! His being – his nature –
seems antithetical to that of Bruckner! I often
wonder if many of our music critics have
actually
heard great Bruckner conductors such as Abendroth,
Asahina, Jochum, Klemperer, Tintner, van Beinum,
von Matacic, and Wand – because if they
had
they certainly would not be so enthusiastic about
Haitink’s rather effete Bruckner.
Yet conservative English music critics warm to
Haitink’s Bruckner and Mahler because it is much
more akin to ‘easy listening’ – civilized,
domesticated, and pasteurised - with all the hard,
dank, rough and gritty textures filtered out and
rendered ‘safe’ for ‘easy’ consumption.
Alex Verney-Elliott
Further listening:
Bruckner symphony No. 8:
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Eduard van Beinum
(conductor): PHILIPS: 442 730-2: June 1955.
Bruckner symphony No. 8:
NHK Symphony Orchestra, Lovro von Matacic
(conductor): DENON: 35CO-1001. March 7, 1984.
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