Audite’s access to master tapes and its ability to present
splendidly annotated boxes is proving an increasingly notable
feature of the reissue market. True, there is a degree of congestion
and multiplication in this field, with competing labels putting
out the same recording in transfers of varying degrees of skill
and sensitivity. And with Knappertsbusch, the repertoire was
not vast; and no great surprises await.
But for the core repertory, and for the lighter muse too – and
his humour was never especially droll, tending toward the guttural,
if not indeed the blue – Kna is very much a collectors’ favourite.
This five disc box ticks many of the relevant boxes, though
there is duplication even within it – two Schubert Unfinished
performances and two Bruckner Nines.
These are all RIAS (Radio in the American Sector of Berlin)
performances given with the Berlin Philharmonic between 1950
and 1952 (why do English language writers now routinely refer
to this band as the Berliner Philharmoniker? When was the last
time they called Prague ‘Praha’?).
Kna was an often inspired Bruckner conductor, though occasionally,
it’s true, a sloppy one. Seven Seas have actually also issued
this 1951 Berlin No.8 on KICC2027 and Hunt likewise on CD711
and so too Andromeda in their 6 CD box devoted to the conductor’s
Bruckner [ANDRCD 9010]. Music and Arts issued the Bavarian State
1955 performance, Memories dug out the VPO, and MCA offered
the commercial 1963 Munich recording. It’s as well that we hear
the Berlin performance and not the Munich because the former
is an infinitely better performed piece of work and not subject
to nearly so many orchestral mishaps. Textual matters will be
of concern to listeners but seen in the light of his Bruckner
performances generally they are surely subordinate to the sense
of massive characterisation and eloquence that the conductor
generates. Even if I think this a lesser performances than say
his recordings of the Seventh and the Fifth, it still stands
as a kind of monument to Knappertsbusch’s Bruckner conducting.
There are two Ninths; the studio version comes from 28 January
1950 and the live one from two days later — both were taped
in the Titania–Palast. These have also seen the rounds. For
example the studio version has been issued by Music and Arts
CD219 and Foyer has also issued it [CDS16004], in addition to
the Andromeda noted above. The only other Ninth known to me
to be around is the February 1958 Bavarian State on Hunt CD710
– this company had a run of Symphonies Nos.7-9. The Ninth is
heard in the Löwe revision. Kna employs a full panoply of expressive
devices, huge dynamics and powerful contrasts, to make his points.
As before and in contradistinction to the views of many of his
detractors, he does not do so through the expedient of slow
tempi.
The two Schubert performances are not at all duplicatory, given
the conductor’s newly minted character. The first (28 January
1950) is the studio recording, whilst two days later followed
this live traversal. He takes his time but freights both with
gravity and his own brand of intensity. Of the two, I do marginally
prefer the studio reading but some may prefer the slightly broader
second movement of the live performance. Beethoven’s Eighth
Symphony (29 January 1952) is strongly argued but not without
the conductor’s usual humour. Those expecting a trudge will
be disappointed, because Kna keeps things appositely on the
move, even when sonority is heavily hewn. Haydn’s Surprise
Symphony comes from a live broadcast in February 1950 and is
another example of symphonic literature well tailored to the
conductor’s own sense of things – now imposing, now humorous.
The Nutcracker suite is hardly in the Stokowski class as regards
flair, colour and pointing, but it has solid virtues of its
own, rather symphonic ones in fact. There are also some genial
examples of his way with Johann Strauss II, Nicolai, and Karel
Komzák II. These come as engaging contrast to the heavy duty
Brucknerian fare, in particular, elsewhere in the set.
The transfers are the finest now to be heard of this material
and the booklet has been compiled with care and intelligence.
Jonathan Woolf
Track listing
CD 1
Anton BRUCKNER (1824-1896)
Symphony No.9 in D minor, (1891-1896) [55:46]
Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D.759 Unfinished (1822)
[23:19]
CD 2
Anton BRUCKNER (1824-1896)
Symphony No.8 in C minor (1884-87, rev. 1889-90) [78:39]
CD 3
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
Symphony No. 8 in F minor Op. 93 (1812) [28:21]
Johann STRAUSS II (1825-1899)
One Thousand and One Nights – Intermezzo [9:10]
Otto NICOLAI (1810-1849)
The Merry Wives of Windsor – overture [8:57]
Franz Joseph HAYDN (1732 - 1809)
Symphony No. 94 in G The Surprise Hob. I:94 (1791) [24:42]
CD 4
Pyotr Il’yich TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893)
The Nutcracker - Ballet in two Acts; suite (1892) [23:34]
Johann STRAUSS II (1825-1899)
Die Fledermaus – overture [8:10]
Pizzicato Polka [2:25]
Karel KOMZÁK II (1850-1905)
Bad’ner Mad’In [10:19]
Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D.759 Unfinished (1822)
[24:11]
CD 5
Anton BRUCKNER (1824-1896)
Symphony No.9 in D minor (1891-1896) [57:19]
Berlin Philharmonic/Hans Knappertsbusch 
