Search - Bruckner, Maazel, Vienna Phil Orch :: Bruckner: Symphony No. 5 [Australia]

A solid, controlled performance

Bahij Bawarshi | Beirut, Lebanon | 03/25/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"When it comes to Bruckner, Lorin Maazel is perhaps best known for conducting the Eighth Symphony with various orchestras, including the BPO, NY Philharmonic and, lately, the LA Philharmonic. His performances of the Eighth have received fervent as well as somewhat cooler praise (music critics are a hard lot to please). Yet he has performed more Bruckner than just the Eighth. To his credit are various recordings, many no longer available, of all Bruckner's symphonies, with the possible exception of No. 00. After repeatedly listening to this recording of the Fifth Symphony with the Vienna Philharmonic, I am surprised that it doesn't appear to be as well-known as it should be. Recorded by Decca in 1974, it was internationally released on CD 30 years later under the Eloquence label (Australia). It's now been available for six years, and deserves recognition.



Bruckner's Fifth is one of his best. Though it differs from other Bruckner symphonies in beginning with a slow introduction, and uniquely blends sonata form and fugue in the last movement, it bears all the Bruckner trademark features. The huge climaxes are there; the pauses are there; tension is maintained by alternating soft and loud, idyllic and dramatic, passages; it includes a substantial adagio movement; the finale quotes themes from previous movements; and it concludes with a glorious, overpowering coda. According to the CD's booklet, Furtwangler thought the finale was "the most monumental movement in the entire symphonic literature." Bruckner himself called it his "contrapuntal masterpiece."



Currently, many different recordings of the symphony are available, going in total playing time from a fast driving 70 minutes to an expansive 83. The vast range is not due to different editions, Nowak or Haas, for they are similar, but to different conceptions of the symphony. Maazel's (Nowak edition) is middle ground 76 minutes. If one word describes his performance, it is control. Maazel does not give free rein to emotion. Even as he builds up the climaxes, the impression is of pent-up power that can break forth at any moment, but doesn't; the dominant brass is either solemn or stately. Whether that is "correct" Bruckner I don't know and, frankly, don't care; it is effective. When Maazel finally lets loose in the closing minutes of the finale, the long-awaited release is mesmerizing. It is as if the whole symphony were leading up to that dramatic moment. Not that drama is the only, or most important, aspect of the symphony or the performance. In the finale, Bruckner indulges his penchant for polyphony in superior fashion as he develops the fugal passages, music of impressive proportions. The quieter sections of the symphony are crucial, contributing warmth and beauty and, yes, sometimes sadness to this complex work. Here, in addition to the strings, the woodwinds stand out, particularly in the great adagio second movement, brought out clearly and well by the Vienna Philharmonic. The thunderous timpani in the codas of the first and last movements remind me of Karajan's formidable drums in the first movement of his 1963 recording with the BPO of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. The digitally remastered sound of the CD is good throughout. The recording is now one of my favorite Bruckner discs."