The composer Anton
Bruckner died 110 years ago. Perhaps
it’s not surprising that celebrations
of the anniversaries of the births of
Mozart and of Shostakovich are attracting
the lion’s share of attention in 2006
but it would be a pity if Bruckner didn’t
receive his due also. The septuagenarian
Bruckner scholar and conductor, Professor
Otto Beckenbauer, has made it his life’s
work to research the life and œuvre
of the Austrian master and it’s fitting
that recordings of perhaps the two most
significant fruits of his labours should
be released in this anniversary year
by the new independent German label,
Saxon. My colleague, Patrick Waller,
has reviewed
the other CD.
It's long been known
that towards the end of his life, as
a counsel of desperation, Bruckner suggested
to some of his acolytes that his Te
Deum might serve as the finale of
his 9th symphony, which he came to realise
he would not live to complete. Scholars
have often pointed out that this would
have been a wholly unsatisfactory completion
as the Te Deum is in C major
and the symphony is in D minor. However,
after several years of research Professor
Beckenbauer has now established to his
complete satisfaction that Bruckner
was referring not to the C major Te
Deum but to an earlier setting in
D major. This at least removes the objection
of a poor fit with the symphony in terms
of tonality. Beckenbauer has now made
the world première recording
of the D major Te Deum and, intriguingly,
has coupled it with a recording of the
familiar three extant movements of the
Ninth. This enables us to judge for
ourselves if the pairing of these two
pieces constitutes a satisfactory whole.
The manuscript of the Te Deum,
dating from the early 1860s, was discovered
in the archives of the monastery of
St. Anselm in the Austrian Tyrol. Wisely,
Beckenbauer kept this discovery away
from public knowledge until he had completed
the complex process of authenticating
the manuscript. As he explains in a
lengthy and very detailed booklet note,
the authentication has involved the
use of sophisticated carbon dating techniques
to determine the age of the paper and
ink. Three separate graphologists have
also independently verified that the
manuscript is indeed in Bruckner’s own
hand.
As near as Beckenbauer
can date the score, by reference to
Bruckner’s other papers and to contemporary
correspondence, the Te Deum was
probably composed in about 1862, though
there is no evidence that it was ever
heard in Bruckner’s lifetime. This places
it just before the symphonies, since
the ‘Study’ Symphony in F minor dates
from 1863. Perhaps more relevant is
where the work sits in the chronology
of Bruckner’s choral music. The first
of his three significant Mass settings,
the Mass in D minor, dates from 1864
and I have to say that the D minor Mass
represents a fairly major advance on
the earlier Te Deum.
The Te Deum
opens with a fairly conventional and,
frankly, four-square chorus. The trouble
with this movement, I fear, is that
the dynamics are pretty unvaried, at
least in this performance. The whole
movement scarcely drops below forte
and the choral writing is entirely
homophonic. It’s a confident opening,
to be sure, but it lacks the grandeur
and epic sweep of the comparable section
in the more familiar C major setting.
There follows a rather touching ‘Te
ergo quaesumus’, which is a duet for
the soprano and tenor soloists. Tenor,
Karl Heinz Klinsmann, makes a splendid
impression here. His is an heroic, ringing
voice, a genuine heldentenor,
and he also phrases imaginatively. His
partner, Bertha Trautmann, can’t quite
match this level of accomplishment,
I fear. She is clearly a dependable
singer but her contribution is, in comparison
with Klinsmann’s, a touch one-dimensional.
I’d describe her singing as the vocal
equivalent of a safe pair of hands.
‘Aeterna fac’ is another
choral movement and here Beckenbauer
and his singers shape the music with
pleasing light and shade, benefiting
from good support in the orchestra.
The section is mainly subdued and supplicatory
and I thought the performance caught
the mood of somewhat naïve prayerfulness
rather well. The bass soloist has the
spotlight in a forceful setting of the
words ‘Salvum fac Domine’ and Josef
Rumenigge, a singer of genuine presence,
projects the music powerfully. Finally
the choir and orchestra have an extended
fugue – a little too extended, I fear
– at ‘In te, Domine, speravi’, The work
ends in a majestic, if rather obvious,
fortissimo blaze of brass, with
the impressive sonority of the organ
of the Markuskirche underpinning the
whole ensemble.
As I indicated earlier
Professor Beckenbauer may have solved
the issue of tonality in unearthing
a choral finale that would sit with
the three movements of the incomplete
Ninth symphony. Whether he has given
us a satisfactorily coherent musical
solution is another matter. To be frank,
I think the D major Te Deum does
not work particularly well as a finale
to the symphony. The tonality may be
suitable but there is too great a stylistic
gulf between the symphony and the earlier
choral work to make this a satisfying
union. If Beckenbauer’s dating work
is correct Bruckner began work on the
Ninth some twenty-five years after the
completion of the Te Deum. To
hear the two works one after another
demonstrates what a musical journey
Bruckner had travelled since the early
1860s.
What of Beckenbauer’s
performance of the three completed movements
of the Ninth? He gives a committed and
well-argued reading, demonstrating his
immersion over many years in Bruckner’s
music, and he obtains some eloquent
playing from his orchestra, with whom
he clearly has a good rapport. However,
in a work like this you need the control
of long paragraphs and that indefinable
something special – a sense of vision,
if you like – that only a few select
conductors possess. For all his merits
I’m afraid that Beckenbauer can’t truly
match the sweep, majesty and sense of
rightness that one gets in this work
from Haitink, Karajan, Walter or Wand.
His tempi are unexceptional but it would
be misleading to suggest that he has
the knack of adroit pacing that the
aforementioned conductors consistently
display in Bruckner. Also he doesn’t
really have their instinctive ability
to grade and place a climax.
In all honesty, for
the reasons given above I can’t say
that what we have here is Bruckner’s
‘Choral’ Symphony. However, in its own
right the Te Deum in D major
is an interesting work that Brucknerians
will want to hear. It may be, of course,
that once we become familiar with this
completion we will accept it more readily.
The Te Deum has yet to achieve
a public performance but surely that
will soon take place now that this recording
is in the public domain. Happily, Saxon
have made it easier for us to become
acquainted with this latest attempt
to complete Bruckner’s Ninth by offering
the set as a "twofer" at mid-price.
The acoustics of the Markuskirche, a
venue that will probably be new to most
collectors, as it was to me, are somewhat
resonant but the engineers have tamed
them well and the performances are captured
in pretty good sound. The documentation,
which is in German and English, comprises
detailed, if rather earnest, notes by
the conductor and the full text of the
Te Deum.
This is inevitably
a somewhat specialist, not to say niche,
issue but it’s good that it has been
released now in time to mark the 110th
anniversary of Bruckner’s death. Recommended
for Bruckner collectors with an enquiring
mind and an open ear.
John Quinn
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See also:
Bruckner Symphonies: an Introduction
and Review of Selected Recordings
by Patrick Waller and John Quinn
Te Deum in D major (1862?)* [37:14] 
