It’s always a pity to dismiss work by one of the great conductors, but this is one of those cases where there doesn’t seem to be any other option. With the exception of the Wagner, which is perfectly fine if not stunning, Eugen Jochum recorded the Brahms and Bruckner symphonies commercially several times each. All of those recordings were uniformly marvelous (indeed, his Dresden Bruckner Seventh on EMI is my favorite recording of the piece). The rationale behind releasing live performances of the same works ought to be that, occasional imperfections notwithstanding, they surpass the studio versions in excitement, spontaneity, or interpretive depth. Well, Jochum also was a superlative recording artist. There’s absolutely nothing to be gained by hearing his well-known interpretations of this music performed by a second-rate orchestra, artificially balanced (over-prominent timpani in particular, muddy textures in general), and captured in okay radio broadcast-quality stereo sound. And that’s all there is to it. Skip this one.
