Search - Bruckner, Knappertsbusch :: Symphonies 3 4 5 7 8 & 9

For Connoiseurs Of Great Conducting

Jeffrey Lipscomb | Sacramento, CA United States | 05/10/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There is good and bad news here. The bad news: this set, with its perceptive notes by Bruckner authority Mark Kluge, is now out of print. The good news? All of these performances are available elsewhere in better sound. Kna was one of the great Bruckner interpreters - he was unique in conveying this music's earthy, almost primeval side. Kna was a stubborn advocate of the so called "revised" editions (Kluge's notes make a compelling argument for them). Here is a brief rundown on the contents of this set, plus some comments on alternative Kna versions and a few outstanding efforts by other conductors:



#3. One of the glories of this set! This 1962 live recording with the NDR Hamburg is a revelation - "blaze-ups" in the grand manner, while the polka episodes in the 4th movement are done with loving care. It's a fairly slow account - but as the old Winston tobacco ads used to say, "it's not how long you make it, it's how you make it long." Kna's rather roughhewn way presents the 3rd in all its craggy majesty. I also prefer the concise drama of this edition - the earlier ones have a tendency to wander. Kna left four other recordings of the Third. His 1954 Vienna Phil. studio reading is the best played but is rather detached - this conductor really needed a live audience to fire him up. The live 1954 Bavarian State Orchestra (on Music & Arts CD 257) is very fast and rather accident-prone. A 1960 live account with the Vienna Symphony (on the Japanese label Altus) is brisk, well-played, and very hard to find. The 1964 Munich Phil. on a Living Stage CD is a shade less dramatic than this 1962 performance, which is now available on Tahra CD 132/135 in superior sound. Among the stereo rivals, Jochum's DG account and Schuricht's VPO on Preiser are both fine - but I prefer this Kna to both. I have heard rumors of a Hermann Scherchen account in a radio archive - now THAT would be interesting to hear!



#4. This 1944 Berlin Phil. concert reading is available in much better sonics on Preiser CD 90226. I think this 1944 is better than Kna's two live Vienna Phil. accounts from 1962 and 1964, but it's less well-played and inferior sound-wise to the 1954 studio VPO reading (Testament). My favorite Nowak edition is the stunning 1960s Berlin Phil. account from Robert Heger (Maximas). If you can tolerate the very slow Finale, Celibidache's live 1988 Munich Phil. (EMI) is one of the most remarkable accounts of the Haas edition. The original 1874 edition of the 4th - in a fine 1975 performance by Kurt Woss and the Munich Phil. - was once on a Linz Brucknerhaus LP.



#5. This live Bruckner 5th with the Munich Phil. (1959) has just been re-issued in EXCELLENT sound on Music & Arts CD 1105. That sound is far better than the transfer in this set or on the one issued by Living Stage. The performance is miles better than both Kna's rather lackluster 1956 Vienna studio version or the uneventful Botstein on Telarc. It's a stunning account - but I feel that the Schalk edition, with its huge cuts, is a drawback. My Haas/Nowak edition preferences: the stupendous live 1942 Furtwangler/BPO on DG; the magnificent Abendroth from 1949 on Arlecchino (with better sound than on Berlin Classics), the stereo 1961 Konwitschny/Leipzig (Berlin Classics), the Horenstein/BBC live 1971 (BBC Legends CD), and - probably my favorite - the inspired Schuricht/VPO (live 1963) on a deleted Musica Classica CD.



#7. This live 1949 Salzburg/VPO 7th is one of Kna's greatest performances on record - he was really "on" this time - and it's in better sound on Preiser. I prefer this to his 1963 reading with the Cologne Radio on Golden Melodram, and it joins some others at the top of the list: Furtwangler's live 1949 BPO on EMI (the best of his 3 versions), the Rosbaud on Vox; the 1964 Schuricht/Hague Phil (Scribendum); the 1967 Matacic/Czech Phil (Supraphon); the live 1976 Bohm/VPO (Andante); and the live 1992 Asahina/Osaka (Canyon Classics).



#8. Here again is Kna's best version: his dark, richly played live 1951 BPO version - it's available in better sound on Tahra 207/8. His 4 other performances are also fascinating. Other superb accounts: Beinum's 1955 Amsterdam Concertgebouw on Phillips (not my normal cup of tea, but it's the most inspired thing I have ever heard from that Dutch conductor), the 1970 LSO with Horenstein on BBC Legends (far better than his old Vox), Kempe's 1971 Zurich Tonhalle (gorgeous slow movement!), Schuricht/VPO from 1963 on EMI, and two of the four Furtwanglers (live 1944 VPO on DG and live 1954 on Andante). I love them all!



#9. This live reading with the BPO from 30 Jan. 1950 can be found in better sound on Tahra 418. I prefer the 28 Jan. 1950 BPO on Tahra 208 for its more spacious Adagio. Kna's other 9th (the 1958 Bavarian State) is on M & A 896: it's fast and not well played. All use the rather discredited Loewe edition.



For me, Furtwangler's live 1944 BPO (on M&A), which uses the original edition, is the finest of all: it sits lonely atop Mount Parnassus, with everyone else toiling somewhere down in the foothills. However, it has sonic limitations. In stereo I most enjoy the Schuricht/VPO from 1963 on a deleted EMI set and the live 1988 Giulini/VPO (DG). Other fine historic accounts include those by Abendroth, Asahina, Keilberth, and Matacic. I am not persuaded by any of the so-called "completed" Bruckner 9ths heard so far [Update 3-11-08: The live Naito 9th on Delta, available from[...], features a superb realization of William Carragan's revised "completion" of the unfinished Finale. Highly recommended!].



These Kna performances, as well as the others cited above, all have one thing in common: they are committed, sincere efforts by conductors who really CARED about the music they were sharing. That has always been a rare commodity - it's even rarer today."