Complete Symphonies [Box set, Limited Edition]

How does Jochum/Dresden's complete set stand up to its rivals? In my view, it's up against a weak field - its strongest competition comes from Jochum himself on DG. Both of Barenboim's (Chicago and Berlin) are very uneven. Solti is as subtle as a plumber's wrench. Haitink is too careful and lightweight. Wand is cool and not that well recorded. Tintner is heavy-handed, and his orchestras are provincial. Skrowaczewski is prosaic and has a second rate ensemble. Karajan has many admirers - but I am not among them: his interpretations, to me, sound sterile and uninvolving.

Jochum on EMI has, with Dresden, one of the world's greatest orchestras. His earlier set uses the Berlin Philharmonic in Symphonies 1,4 and 7-9 - the balance is with his own Bavarian Radio Symphony, which Jochum founded in 1949.

On the basis of sound alone, the average listener is likely to prefer the Dresden, making it perhaps the best complete set for a newcomer to Bruckner's music - it is well-played, in modern sonics, and none of the performances is less than competent.

However, the Berlin Philharmonic is outstanding and the Bavarian Radio plays well. I would give DG the prize in Symphonies 1, 2, 4 and 6, while Dresden/EMI is very slightly preferable in 5, 8 and 9. For 3 and 7, it's a toss-up, although I lean towards DG in the Third.

Jochum's DG performance of #1 is one of the two or three finest Firsts ever recorded: I think it's Jochum's finest traversal of ANY Bruckner Symphony. In #2, everything goes smoothly until the last movement, which I find a bit aggressive in both versions. The DG #3 remains one of the finest stereo versions. I prefer Jochum's mono 1955 4th with the Bavarian Radio (on American Decca LP's) to either of those in the complete sets: it simply sounds fresher, more rustic, and a little closer to the source.

With Symphonies 5-9, the competition from other performances is overwhelming. Jochum's is a highly polished Bruckner - others convey more of the rural Austrian composer's earthy side. Jochum has always had a predilection for arbitrary tempo shifts: I feel all his recordings of the 5th are undone by them. To my ears, Jochum is outshone in the 8th and the 9th by conductors as varied as Furtwangler, Schuricht, Horenstein, and Abendroth.

Jochum's is not the last word in Bruckner - but he is a very fine spokesman. Anyone wanting to explore Bruckner's symphonic world could hardly do better than either of these complete Jochum sets. The EMI has excellent performances in modern recorded sound; the DG has a few superior readings, but in sound that is a bit dated. Either set offers many hours of beautiful music making.

I just finished listening to symphonies 1 through 3 and the warmth and balance of the sections of the Dresden orchestra remind me of Dutch painting from the 17th century. Everything glows, and seemingly glows from within! The sheer weight of the sound at the end of the Second Symphony first movement amazed me, and that is just one example.

I'm not sure if these were all originally analog recordings or part analog, part digital as in the von Karajan DG set. Frankly, I don't care. I'm just glad they got it right this time!