Sym 6 [Import]

I'm not generally a fan of this conductor, but here his performance moves forward powerfully, is tightly organized, and the orchestra and recorded sound are nearly ideal for this work. I like this better than the other five or six (if not more)recordings of the 6th I have.

I am one of those for whom the news that Sawallisch excelled as an interpreter of Bruckner is a surprise. I have found him to be workaday in some things but this is a performance of real stature -and also one to challenge the standard Klemperer recording by taking a truly original and personal line, especially in the manner in which Sawallisch interprets the first two movements. Whereas Klemperer is grand and adamantine in the opening "Maestoso", Sawallisch is much more sweeping and propulsive, generating real drive and momentum. However, in the Adagio, Sawallisch outdoes Klemperer by daring to adopt an even statelier tempo - and it works. He also finds a warmth, sweetness and tenderness in the closing pages of the Adagio that I have not heard before. The quirky Scherzo is again perfectly characterised, cutting a minute off Klemperer's slightly stolid account. The finale is restless and mercurial - and perhaps slightly lacking in the sureness of touch which marks Klemperer's account but it builds majestically. There is never any doubt whether Sawallisch has anything interesting to say in this music.

The playing of the Bavarian State Orchestra is glorious; the spacious acoustic suits the sonorities of the music and the roundness of the orchestra's sound perfectly. The horns are especially refulgent.

I have never quite understood why this appears to be one of Bruckner's least performed and recorded symphonies; it strikes me as melodic and the most grandly Wagnerian in its idiom with its soaring strings and layers of brass and woodwind chordally underpinning them.

Bruckner's sixth symphony has a quirky distinctive personality. The off-beat and kinky scherzo in particular is especially memorable, capturing Bruckner's eccentric originality to perfection. Conducting the work as a whole requires a slightly laid back personality - when the work is forced it seems to blow up on a conductor, losing it's charm and distinctiveness. Having said this I have to admit that two of my favorite performances were by pretty serious approaches by pretty monumental leaders, Klemperer and Furtwangler - this latter not a complete performance. However, mere mortals trying to have a go at this work rarely manage to pull off the heaven-storming approach of those two baton legends.
This recording happily avoids trying to overdo things. The balances are quite delightful, and the work's charming disposition is allowed to emerge - in many ways this is the sunniest of Bruckner's symphonies, or at least the most ingratiating. Again, I've never understood the need some critics have for apologies for this work.
Setting aside the classic Klemperer among available recordings, the tops among those available is Stein's serious and brilliantly played and recorded way with the Vienna. Truth to tell, I find this performance almost too much of a good thing: it is very forceful and can be a tad overwhelming. Although many find the Stein CD very sensitive and lyrical I tend to disagree a wee bit - the Vienna Philharmonic may be resplendent, but it hammers forth at times on those forte passages like the Dies Irae from the Verdi Requiem. (Of course many Bruckner enthusiasts live for just such blasts.) Personally I find it yet another sign that we are still learning how to approach this symphony among a very complicated and at times contradictory body of work. The Bruckner sixth symphony certainly allows for considerable diversity in approach, and performances such as this one under Sawallisch do a fine job in bringing out many of the work's often submerged charms and attractions.