Search - Anton Bruckner, Oswald Kabasta, Munich Philharmonic Orchestra :: Anton Bruckner: Symphonie No. 7 E-Dur

A first rate Bruckner Seventh.

Jeffrey Lee | Asheville area, NC USA | 09/03/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Oswald Kabasta was associated with two names frequently linked to Bruckner---Ferdinand Loewe, whom he studied under, and Franz Schalk, whom he succeeded at the Vienna State Academy. An Austrian himself, he handled numerous radio concerts during World War II. At the least, he seemed to have been sympathetic with Hitler's takeover of Austria, and it was little surprise to some that he was prohibited from conducting following the war's end. Terribly distraught, he ended his life within a year. Though perhaps not as widely known or appreciated as other prominent European conductors during his lifetime, he had established, nonetheless, a respected reputation as a spokesman for Bruckner's music. If this Bruckner Seventh Symphony recorded in 1942 is typical of his approach to that composer, then considerable praise is certainly well deserved. His account is neither slow nor heavy. It displays clean lines and firm shape, yet it is also musically fluid, superbly well balanced and appropriately lyrical, especially where massed strings are concerned. For those who say that Bruckner's music frequently rings with an organ-like sonority, I say listen to the kind of quality Kabasta elicits from the strings of the Munich Philharmonic. It sounds more like a collection of very songful human voices. Despite some of the recording's distortion related issues, I think there would be little disagreement with my contention that this Bruckner Seventh ranks among the finest ever documented."