> Bruckner - Symphony No. 1 [SM]: Classical CD Reviews- Nov 2002 MusicWeb(UK)

MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Anton BRUCKNER (1824 – 1896).
Symphony No. 1 in C Minor ‘Linz’ (version 1865/66)
Gewandhausorchester Leipzig/Vaclav Neumann.
Recording at Heilandskirche, Leipzig, 13th/14th December 1965. VEB Deutsche Schallplatten, Berlin ADD
BERLIN CLASSICS 0094662BC
[51.21]



BUY NOW 

Crotchet   AmazonUK   AmazonUS

 

On May 9th 1868, Anton Bruckner took up the baton, and conducted the premiere performance of his Symphony No. 1 in C Minor. Actually it was his second symphony, not his third as has been wrongly stated in the past. The chronology of these first three symphonies is as follows: strictly according to their composition dates: Symphony in F Minor, later called by Bruckner the Symphony No. "00" was composed in 1863. At the age of 39, to mark the end of his "Free" composition studies with Otto Kitzler, came the Symphony No. 1 in C Minor of 1866. After this came the Symphony in D, of 1864, subsequently called the Symphony No. "0" in 1895. This re-classification of these symphonies largely came about due to scholarly research by Professor Carragan amongst others.

A few months later, following a move to Vienna, Bruckner "Revised" the 1st Symphony by thickening up of some inner textures with added woodwind and brass. He then called it the "Vienna" edition. This revision was carried out during the 1870s.

Even at this early stage of Bruckner’s compositional career, the strong influence of the works of Richard Wagner can be clearly heard, mainly as a result of the "Opera" Tannhauser. Bruckner had in fact attended a performance of Tannhauser in 1863, conducted by his young teacher Otto Kitzler, in 1865, he travelled to Munich to attend a performance of Tristan und Isolde. The music of Wagner was to have a life-long influence on Bruckner’s works, and Bruckner’s veneration for Wagner became wholly obsessive during his middle compositional years.

What we have on this CD, is a fine performance and recording of the 1865/66 "Linz" edition of the 1st symphony given by one of the world’s oldest and most refined orchestras. The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra are directed by Vaclav Neumann, who, sadly, died on September 2nd 1995, shortly after his 75th birthday. For a conductor, 75 is positively middle-aged. The tempi are finely crafted and played with a great affection for Bruckner’s symphonies. There is an overall feeling that the largish scale symphonic sound-world of this work owes more to very late Schubert than to the massive sound-world of Wagner. Having said that, this, epic structure is immensely easy to listen to, and for the first time listener, will not present any problematic moments. All in all, this issue can be greeted with a fine recommendation, and at what is a silly budget price deserves to be within every Brucknerian’s CD collection.

It is also worth mentioning that the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by the late great Georg Tintner have recorded on the Naxos label the "Unrevised Linz Version ed. Haas/Carragan" of 1866. The label claims this to be the "World Premier Recording". Both CDs should be purchased without delay, as they are both important documents of Bruckner’s early compositional skills.

Scott Montague


Return to Index

Error processing SSI file