Whether all geniuses
are crazy has not been established,
but we definitely know that some geniuses
are crazier than others. Whether religion
is madness or not — the Greeks warned
that at least too much religion was
madness — we definitely know that some
people are more religious than others.
What turns most people
off to the symphonies of Bruckner is
that he was crazy with religion and
if you can’t appreciate that, if you
are unfamiliar with spiritual orgasm,
then his music seems to be ungainly,
ugly, noisy, pointless. Bruckner is
so much more spiritual than Wagner that
Wagner in direct comparison sounds more
like [Johann] Strauss. Bruckner perfected
the art of stopping exactly at the point
of "if he plays that one more time
I’ll scream." However if you are
susceptible to spiritual orgasm, even
from an artist practising a faith not
your own, then the Bruckner Seventh
Symphony is one of your very favorite
works and even the Ninth Symphony
seems too brief. Sober, well-adjusted
conductors can’t make any sense out
of either work whereas, with Bruckner,
Carlo Maria Giulini is in his glory.
So, what is Bruckner
doing writing chamber music? Proving
that he was, in addition to being a
musical prophet, a capable musical craftsman?
It seems so. Just before beginning work
on his Sixth Symphony, Bruckner
wrote this quintet at the request of
Joseph Hellmesberger for his eponymous
quartet. Eventually, Bruckner provided
a simplified scherzo at the request
of the dedicatee, but these ‘Vienners’
play the original version in this recording.
Both works are in the classic four movement
form. How these artists get away with
naming themselves just one letter and
one number different from the famous
Vienna Philharmonic Quartet I can’t
explain. Bruckner did not acknowledge
his String Quartet of 1862, hence
officially this quintet is the only
chamber work he ever wrote. You might
be startled to read in your Winter 1995/6
Schwann catalog that Bruckner wrote
two violin sonatas; however, this is
a misprint; the Busoni sonatas are intended
instead.
You might expect at
least some of Bruckner’s quintet writing
to have an "orchestral" sound
to it, complete with the chromatic steps,
repetitions and long crescendos for
which he was famous; and you’d be right.
But you might be surprised to hear sections
which have a "concerto grosso"
sound, where a group of solo instruments
are accompanied by the remaining ones.
Makes one wish Bruckner had written
a double concerto for violins. The uncredited
annotator uses the words "beautiful"
and "sublime" to describe
the adagio, and I can’t think of better
ones; the performance is deeply affecting.
In the final movement this group interpret
Vienna Philharmonia Quintet: Wolfgang Poduschka,
Alfred Staar, vv; Josef Staar, Helmut Weis (Bruckner
only), vlas; Wolfgang Herzer, vc; Eduard Mrazek,
piano (Schmidt only) 
