Search - Bruckner, Mravinsky, Leningrad Phil. Orchestra :: Mravinsky Edition 4

A fine example of Mravinsky's art, but don't expect orchestr

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 11/13/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Although I am a great admirer of Mravinsky, I never herd the legendary Soviet conductor live (few in the West ever did and no one in the U.S.). So I take it on faith the the Leningrad Phil. was a virtuoso orchestra. To my ears, they often sound scrappy in concert, and it's to concert recordings that we must turn for most of Marvinsky's current re-releases. This Bruckner Ninth dates from January 30, 1980 and comes in reasonably good Soviet rado broadcast stereo. Balances are better than usual form this source, and climaxes don't shatter the microphones, at least not more than one expects from FM radio.



The orchestra commits bloopers here and there, and you oculdn't claim that the woodwinds, for example, rate anywhere near those in Berlin, Vienna, Chicago, and other stellar Western groups. The brass sounds blatty more often than not. No, it's Mravinsky we're here to listen to, and his Bruckner is alive and forceful. He's generally fast in the two outer movements compared to late Karajan or Giulini, yet well within the standard range (timings are roughly 23 min., 10 min., and 26 min. for the three movements). The main thing one notices is the absence of Germanic tradition. Mravinsky shapes phrases nervously and builds climaxes without trying to sound as if he's erecting a cathedral--I guess this is Bruckner for atheists. In all, it's a fascinating example of his art, and if you can get past the relatively minor drawbacks, there's also a Seventh and Eighth in circulation.



By the way, there are lots of competing Mravinsky Bruckner Ninths, mostly on unknown Russian labels and other pirates, but to my knowledge they are all variants of this same 1980 reading."