16 Feb 2007
BRUCKNER: Symphony no. 4
Perhaps the best-known of Anton Bruckner’s symphonies, the Fourth also benefits from a number of fine recordings.
Recently in Recordings
Italian Opera at the Liceu
The Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, after suffering a calamitous fire in the early 1990s, reopened in 1999, lovingly restored. TDK has released a series of DVDs from the Liceu since that date, providing ample evidence of the world...
MAHLER: Das Lied von der Erde
Premiered posthumously, the symphonic song-cycle Das Lied von der Erde by Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) remains one of his defining works because of its synthesis of song and symphony, two genres he pursued throughout his career.
J. S. Bach, arr. Robert Schumann. Johannes Passion.
In 1851 during his first season as music director in Düsseldorf, Robert Schumann presented a performance of Bach’s St. John Passion, and unsurprisingly adapted the score both to nineteenth-century taste and nineteenth-century practicalities.
DE LALANDE: Les Folies de Cardenio.
The centrality of dance at the French court helped bring grace, order, and political allegory into the characteristic prominence they enjoyed during the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV; theatre presentations of all stripes were infused with choreographic diversions.
SIBELIUS: Symphonies 1-7
In tandem with the recently released set of Sir Simon Rattle’s recordings of Mahler’s symphonies on EMI Classics, the set of the complete symphonies by Jean Sibelius merits attention.
Wagner: Orchestral Hightlights from the Operas
As much as Richard Wagner espoused opera reform in his theoretical writings by bringing to his works for the stage a closer unity between music and text, his actual means of doing so at times involved the use of orchestral forces that sometimes overwhelmed the sung word.
Italian opera on Gala
The budget label Gala purveys live performances both historic and relatively recent; of the three discussed here, the La Scala Fedora dates back to 1931, while the Attila comes from a 1987 La Fenice performance.
Echo de Paris: Parisian Love Songs 1610-1660
National styles of music in the seventeenth century were often distinctive, and in the case of French and Italian music, famously so.
MAHLER: Symphonies 1-10
With its recent release of Mahler’s symphonies conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, EMI Classics makes available in a single place an outstanding contribution to the composer’s discography.
WAGNER: Parsifal
This DVD records and commemorates a 1981 production of Parsifal in its Bayreuth lair, and the singers of 1981 are as fine as recollection might paint them.
Historic opera performances in Russian on Gala
Once the custom of the world's opera houses was to translate great operas into the language of each respective country.
Deutsche Grammophon budget opera sets
Repackaging older recordings having become the primary focus of a classical recording company's business, Deutsche Grammophon budgeted some funds for art direction for its budget series called "Opera House" (although that appellation only appears in a link found on the back inside cover of the sets' booklets).
STRAUSS: Der Rosenkavalier
Of Rosenkavaliers on DVD, the classics tend to be lovingly detailed productions, going back to the film of Herbert von Karajan leading an exemplary cast, with Elizabeth Schwarzkopf's iconic Marschallin.
Lamentazioni per la Settimana Santa
Despite an unsurprising degree of conservatism in liturgical music, devotional life in Rome often found ways of taking advantage of modern musical style.
Castradiva
“Her fioritura is priceless, breathtaking, and effortless.”
“One Foot in Eden Still, I Stand”: Choral Music by Nicholas Maw.
The English composer Nicholas Maw has been a major voice since the 1960's, with a wide range of works that include the 2002 opera, "Sophie’s Choice," a violin concerto for Joshua Bell (1993), and the monumentally-scaled orchestral work, "Odyssey" (1972-87).
MOZART: Requiem (Neukomm ed.)
As is often the case, last works that remain incomplete at the time of a composer’s death, are quick to invoke controversy and conspiracy theories.
ROUSSEAU: Le Devin du Village
This is a valuable new recording of a work that is only rarely heard, but was widely influential and wildly popular during the eighteenth century. Philosophe Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote both the libretto and the music, with mixed success.
Les Élémens
This disc is well worth the price for the first track alone: the opening measures of Jean-Féry Rebel’s “Cahos,” (Chaos), written in 1737 or 1738, may cause you to wonder if you accidentally left a Stockhausen or Ligeti disc in the changer.
Jan Neckers on Recently Reissued Historicals: December 2007
This recording made half a century ago will not be anyone’s first choice unless one is a die-hard fan of one of the principal singers; neither of them belonging to the absolute top in their profession.
OPERA TODAY ARCHIVES »
Recordings
In approaching this work, Philippe Herreweghe contributes a well-thought interpretation of Leopold Nowak’s edition of the 1878/80 version of the work to the discography of this familiar Symphony. Within Bruckner’s expansive structures, the details of performance are crucial for a successful execution, and the Herreweghe commands attention to finer points that support the architecture of this score.
Under the direction of Philippe Herreweghe, the Orchestre des Champs-Élysees meets the challenges of this score well. As popular as Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony is, the performers should have no problem in approaching the music, but that same familiarity can also draw comparisons of this performance with others, be it on recording or in live concerts. From that perspective, the new recording offers a convincing, solid, and even reading of this well-known work. As with Bruckner’s other symphonies, the extroverted passages require solid musicians to execute the various passages that echo the full stops of an organ, and the players are well suited to the task. The relentless horn parts are balanced well by the rest of the brass and winds, with the string texture at the core of the work supporting the fuller textures of the first movement, and also the chamber-music-like demands of the second. Such apposite demands can challenge any ensemble, and the ability to arrive at a convincing reading that sustains the intensity through the conclusion of this cyclic work is laudable.
Throughout the recording the brass are clearly present without overbalancing the winds and strings. Attacks are solid clear, with a nice, ringing tone that resonates well within the overall acoustic balance. Such playing is evident in the opening of the Scherzo, in which the horns set the tone for the rest of the brass in this well-known movement. In fact, Herreweghe is careful to allow the sonorities to ring at various points before proceeding from one section to another. IN that movement some of the quieter passages contain nuances that some conductors do not capture as well, and those interested in this performance may wish to sample this movement to get a sense of Herreweghe’s approach to the work.
The strings are full and could, at times, be stronger sounding. This may be the result of the recording process which is, in fact, otherwise effective. Despite this quibble, the chromatic passages that Bruckner uses in various transitions in the first movement demonstrate the ability of the strings to move together as a unit, suggesting in some places the kind of ensemble associated with chamber music. The woodwinds are similarly engaging in this performance, with the tutti passages reflecting a well-rehearsed and sensitive section. At times the louder passages seem to absorb the individual colors, but the woodwinds manage to maintain their presence in such places.
A solid recording, the sound is mastered well to preserve some of the nuances that Herreweghe brings out. At some crucial points, as the opening of the last movement, the amplitude of the recording backs off just a bit, thus reinforcing the tension already present in the harmonic dimension. Other details emerge in this movement, which has more breadth than sometimes encountered in the concert hall. If Herreweghe is, at times, subtle, it is not at the expense of the overt gestures which, as a result, are more dramatic in such a context.
One of Bruckner’s more popular works, it is difficult to single out any one recording that might serve as a benchmark, but Herreweghe’s recent release stands well alongside others for the clarity and attention to detail that this work deserves. The accompanying notes by Habakuk Traber provide some background information on the genesis of the Fourth Symphony and help to share with listeners the complex situation that exists with the versions and revisions that are endemic with Bruckner’s music. In choosing this version of the work, Herreweghe has given it a reading that deserves attention.
James Zychowicz