This release has been eagerly awaited–not least, perhaps, by the participants, who recorded it four and a half years ago! Claudio Abbado’s Bruckner cycle so far has spanned more than a decade, with just four (variably successful) releases until now (Symphonies Nos. 1, 4, 5, & 7). Alas, this is perhaps the least distinguished so far, and yields to many other recordings in a strong field. The sound is a large part of the problem. The orchestra was recorded extremely closely and there is little real blend. This also ruthlessly exposes cracks in the ensemble and results in some surreal balances (at 5:50 in the first movement a pianissimo oboe dominates the orchestra even more than a pianissimo oboe usually does).
This is a live recording, made at a series of performances. Or was it? There are moments where it is hard to believe that there were no cleaner takes available. The beginning of the Scherzo is a shambles; there is a lusty sneeze just before the two-minute mark of the first movement, a very messy timpani roll in the same movement (16:48), and countless other little infelicities. Perhaps most catastrophic to the effect of the recording is the final brass chord of the piece, which does not begin together, is not in tune (with some very prominent “beating”), and sounds most uncomfortable.
Ten years ago, the same orchestra in the same hall, recorded by the same company with another Italian conductor (Carlo Maria Giulini), managed to produce something rather different. There is a true orchestral blend as well as timbral differentiation; there are real pianissimos and there is brilliance with far less harshness. The Adagio’s final crescendo (culminating in a chord containing every note of the C-sharp minor scale) demonstrates the difference most persuasively. Under Abbado, the brass rasp from the beginning; under Giulini they maintain a centred tone until the last possible moment. No apology is needed when a trumpeter over-reaches for a single unforgettable note, and the final chord in the horns is heavenly rather than excruciating. The Giulini may have been deleted to make room for DG’s recent Abbado and Sinopoli recordings, but it should still be randomly available. Find it by any means necessary, or go for either of the two recordings listed above, among many others finer than this.
