Walter’s Bruckner Ninth always has struck me as weak beer, comparatively speaking, but hearing it again leads me to reconsider. Certainly this is Bruckner viewed through the lens of Brahms, smoothly flowing rather than granitic, and the Columbia Symphony Orchestra brass and strings have been outplayed by any number of subsequent recordings. I still miss Jochum’s savagery on EMI, or Skrowaczewski’s probing of the work’s almost avant-garde harmonic adventures (Arte Nova), but Walter’s warmth pays big dividends in the concluding Adagio, even if its climax isn’t as expressionistic or intense as it could be. In the final analysis, after hearing Giulini (DG) and Celibidache (EMI) explore the outer limits of Bruckner’s monumentality, it’s a welcome corrective to return to Walter to encounter the music’s basic humanity–and in excellently remastered sound too.
The Te Deum receives an outstanding performance from the conductor’s point of view. Soloists and choir could be more secure in places, but the 1953 mono recording has come up very well in this transfer, with more presence from the organ than in many recent versions. Walter handles the closing pages more effectively than anyone else on disc, with a big ritard, a thrilling race to the finish, and a closing “bang” on the last note that creates a most satisfying impression of finality in a work that often simply stops more than it ends. Given the top-notch competition, these can’t be first recommendations in this music, but Walter’s readings have withstood the test of time amazingly well and still have special communicative qualities that you won’t find anywhere else.
