Sym 9

I am beginning to fall in love with DG's new "Musik...Sprache der Welt" series. Sure a few of the titles feature selections that have already been or continue to be available on other CDs (see my reviews of the Schubert Markevitch and Schumann Furtwangler titles), but the vast majority of these performances have been languishing in the vaults for far too long. Of course, the fact that these discs sell at mid-price when comparable classic historical performances from the EMI and Decca archives sell on labels like Testament for full-price, makes this series all the more worthwhile.

Conductor Eugen Jochum is generally regarded as one of, if not the single greatest, interpreter of the composer Anton Bruckner. His 1960s Symphony Cycle for DG (he also recorded ones for EMI and Philips) is the cornerstone of any Bruckner collection, but here we get to hear a 1954 mono account of the 9th Symphony with the Bavarian RSO. While Jochum's later stereo accounts of this massive work offer this listener more enjoyment, it is fascinating to discover even early on in the maestro's career how Bruckner thoroughly captured his imagination. This is a fantastic disc and certainly an historic one for serious Bruckner collectors. I would like to commend DG/Universal on producing another fine classical music series in "Musik...Sprache der Welt." Thanks for reminding us that there are still some great recordings that need to be reissued, and that we shouldn't have to pay a small fortune to hear them.

Bruckner-wise, Robert Simpson is still ex cathedra. In his discussion on the Ninth Symphony - a work that Bruckner dedicated to God - he rightly says that in certain instances one can sense that the composer himself is terrified by what he has unleashed with his pen. To my ears, it is less of a `Dark Night of the Soul' and more of a cosmic eclipse. Or perhaps the Tiresias-within could foresee Flanders and the Paper-Hanger.

Here on Amazon, a San Andreas fault-line divides Bruckner devotees into two camps. Most - but not all - will readily concede the excellence of Furtwangler or Karajan in this domain but Eugen Jochum is a far more divisive figure. Many acclaim his Bruckner to high heaven - and among their number are some formidable intellects. On my part, I have most of his DG and EMI series and as the years go by, I find them increasingly unlistenable: they're shelf-cloggers. Nor am I Robinson Crusoe.

Prose and Poetry jointly uphold the structure in any Bruckner symphony. Patience is mandatory. When that is lacking, a conductor will become a plodder in this repertoire - and all the old calumnies that were once hurled against `Mister Symphonic Boa Constrictor' gain legs. I am not against `gear-changes' per se in this music - Furtwangler is incorrigible in that respect - but Jochum's `cat on a hot tin roof' (scramble - pause - scramble) though a Bruckner Symphony - in my view at least - impairs its innate dignity and momentum. Yes Virginia, it is possible to be more energetic than one's rivals and still be laced with longueurs. But there is a more deepset issue.

Anyone can stand on the edge of the abyss and summon the spirits - but will they come?

This 1954 recording with the BRSO has been successfully remastered - the boxy mono sound at the commencement soon gives way to a more rounded picture. The orchestra plays idiomatically. It is a highly dramatic account (especially in the Scherzo) and I prefer it to the DG recording (there is more grip in the first movement), to say nothing of the wobble of a performance on EMI. The climax of the Adagio has a genuine kick to it. To be fair to Jochum, his gear changes are more subtly masked than in later traversals. But the deepset failure cannot be glossed over: the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse fail to make an appearance, or if they do, they're mounted on ponies. Be it from failure or refusal, there is nothing daemonic in this performance. It's semi-masked by the orchestral response but its absence is noticeable all the same. The Furtwangler '44 takes one to the very gates of the Underworld and beyond - it is a hellish experience. Jochum lacks the wherewithal to do so.

This is a deeply subjective response to a fine conductor and I readily acknowledge that I might be wrong. I just wish Eugen himself would refute me that rather than third parties getting in my ear.

So all in all, it's another shelf-clogger. I like the packaging for that very reason.

I must confess at once that this was one of the first recordings of Bruckner's 9th Symphony that I ever heard, in the late 1960's: I recall finding the slow movement particularly moving in Jochum's performance.

Over the intervening years my love of Bruckner's music broadened and deepened, and I have been fortunate to attend many live performances of his works as well as building up an extensive collection of his works on disc.

There are some performances that are just "right". This is one of them. I managed to acquire a copy of this, the latest DG reissue, a while ago and for some reason it was a little while before I had time to play it through without interruption. The performance now strikes me as even better than I originally thought, while the recording (though in mono) has come up very well and in no way detracted from my enjoyment of this glorious music.

Jochum was in many ways an ideal Bruckner conductor and had the happy gift of being able to convey the musical argument successfully while at the same time allowing the pace to quicken a little or relax as the music dictates. Far too many conductors of this score resort to crude "stop-start" methods with disastrous results. There are other performances that I cherish (Wand's live Lubeck Cathedral recording on EMI originally; Georg Tintner's on Naxos) but in my view this early Jochum performance is right up there among the chosen few.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 4 reviews  4.2 out of 5 stars