Anton BRUCKNER (1824-1896)
Symphony No.3 in d minor, WAB103 (1889 version, ed. Nowak) [60:40]
Richard WAGNER (1813-1883)
Tannhäuser: Overture [15:11]
Gewandhaus Orchester, Leipzig/Andris Nelsons
rec. live June 2016, Leipzig Gewandhaus. DDD
DG 4797208
[75:51]
This is advertised as the first of a series of all the Bruckner symphonies
from these forces. I streamed it, fully expecting, on the basis of
Nelsons’ Britten War Requiem (Arthaus Blu-ray or DVD:
Recording of the Month
–
Recording of the Month) and Shostakovich Symphonies (DG –
review
–
review
–
review) to be sufficiently bowled over to buy the recording on disc or as a
download. In the event I didn’t, perhaps because of the use of the third,
1889, version, though I think that’s not the only reason why this recording
made so little initial impression on me. That’s doubly disappointing
because I’ve seen a suggestion that it could make new friends for Bruckner;
instead I fear that the first movement might make beginners give up.
Most recordings of this symphony use the 1889 version but I believe that to
be a mistake – Mahler and others counselled against the final revision.
Bruckner himself seems to have had doubts, preserving his first and second
thoughts and bequeathing them to the Imperial Library. Yannick
Nézet-Séguin with the Dresden Staatskapelle (Profil) makes a very strong
case for the 1873 original, one which I found totally convincing, though
ultimately not in preference to Jonathan Nott (1873, Tudor), Bernard
Haitink (1877, Decca Duo, with No.4: download only) or Osmo Vänskä (1877,
with 1876 manuscript Adagio, mid-price Hyperion). Details of all
these are listed in my
review
of the Profil. Another very fine version of the 1877 edition, recorded by
Jaap van Zweden with the Netherlands Radio Orchestra, was made
Recording of the Month
by Terry Barfoot.
Though Bruckner marks the 1889 first movement sehr langsam (very
slowly) or mehr langsam (more slowly), misterioso, Nelsons
makes it sound too slow and unfocused for me, though he takes only a few
seconds longer than Mariss Jansons with the Concertgebouw on their own
label or Marek Janowski on Pentatone (also 1889). All three are
significantly slower than Stanisław Skrowaczewski with the LPO on their
in-house label in a live RFH recording of his own edition of the 1889
version (LPO0084 –
review
). Skrowaczewski’s view of this movement with the LPO is consistent with
his recording for Oehms in the series which he made with the Saarbrücken
Radio Orchestra. In both it’s apparent that he loves all four movements;
I’m not sure that Nelsons and his Dresden players enjoyed such a
relationship with the opening movement.
After the first movement, however, things greatly improve. The second
movement truly is bewegt and andante: in other words, the
music keeps moving in a focused direction, yet at the same time developing
a real sense of Innigkeit. The sense of direction is maintained in
the remaining movements, too. Needless to say, the Gewandhaus Orchestra,
with their long-standing relationship with Bruckner, offer Nelsons superb
support.
Having expressed my preference for the 1873 or 1877 versions, I
nevertheless felt that Skrowaczewski and the LPO make a stronger case for
1889 than Nelsons and the Gewandhaus. As downloaded in 24/44.1 sound from
eclassical.com, with pdf booklet, that is my recommendation for the 1889 version and I
believe that I shall be listening to that alongside my 1873 and 1877
favourites in future.
On the new DG the Tannhäuser Overture is something of an irrelevance
after the symphony despite the connection between the two works and the
dedication of the symphony to Wagner. Persuasively performed though it is,
it would have been better placed first, if at all. For once I would not
have complained about a lack of filler.
The recorded sound is good throughout and, though these are live
performances, there’s almost no audible audience noise and no applause at
the end. The notes in the booklet are adequate but little attempt is made
to analyse the music in detail – just generalities about Bruckner’s
spirituality – and nothing to inform the novice listener that three
(three-and-a-half or even six) versions of this symphony exist. None of
the booklets which I have looked at matches the detail of the one which
Hyperion provide with the Vänskä recording.
My top recommendation for this symphony remains the 1873 original, as
recorded by Yannick Nézet-Séguin on Profil, or the 1877, as recorded by
Osmo Vänskä on Hyperion. For those who prefer the final, 1889, version I
recommend Stanisław Skrowaczewski rather than the new Andris Nelsons whose
disappointing first movement spoils an otherwise very fine performance. I
look forward to the rest of the series, however.
Brian Wilson
