Building a Collection #59: Bruckner's Ninth Symphony
With recommended recordings
Building a Collection #59
Symphony no. 9 in D minor
By Anton Bruckner
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“They want me to write differently. Certainly I could, but I must not. God has chosen me from thousands and given me, of all people, this talent. It is to Him that I must give account. How then would I stand there before Almighty God, if I followed the others and not Him?” -
-Anton Bruckner
We continue on this wonderful and epic journey covering the top 250 classical works of all-time. At #59 is the final complete symphony composed by Austrian Anton Bruckner, his Symphony no. 9. The symphony was premiered in Vienna in 1903, but the conductor Ferdinand Löwe significantly altered Bruckner’s score. It was not until 1932 that the actual premiere of Bruckner’s original score was premiered, this time in Munich.
Anton Bruckner
Josef Anton Bruckner was born in 1824 in Ansfelden, Austria, and died in 1896 in Vienna, Austria. Born into a family of schoolteachers, he was a chorister at nearby St. Florian monastery where he also learned to play violin, piano, and organ. He became a teacher at the same school, as a choirmaster for a group of monks, and later as a church organist in Linz, Austria. He would begin study in Vienna, eventually passing exams in composition and counterpoint in 1861.
Bruckner was well into his 30s by the time he began composing in earnest, meanwhile teaching counterpoint and organ at the Vienna Conservatory, and becoming a professor in 1871. In the early 1860s, he produced his first large work, a Symphony in D minor that he later dismissively named “die Nullte”, or Symphony No. 0.
Bruckner was a devout Catholic, and his connection to his faith is important to understanding the man and his music. In addition to the symphonies he composed, Bruckner also wrote at least seven Masses and other devotional works including a well-known Ave Maria, a Te Deum, several Psalm settings, a Magnificat, forty Motets, and a Requiem. The style of writing he used for his religious works was somewhat different from what he used for his symphonies in that for the works with religious themes he used more counterpoint and shorter structures. The symphonies, on the other hand, were much broader structures with repeating themes and changing tonalities and dissonances. Much of the church and choral music Bruckner composed as a young man is rarely, if ever, performed nowadays. During his lifetime, Bruckner was a well-known organist and gave recitals in various places in Europe. However, he composed very little for the organ and preferred larger choral and orchestral settings.
Bruckner was a life-long bachelor, although he made several unsuccessful marriage proposals, specifically to teenage girls. Because of the rumors created by his pursuit of young girls, and even though some accusations of impropriety were unfounded, at some point Bruckner decided to only teach boys. It is thought Bruckner preferred teenage girls owing to his strict Catholic morality, believing that there was a much better chance that younger girls were virgins and therefore without sexual sin. When he was in his 50s, a young chambermaid came very close to accepting his marriage proposal, but ultimately it never happened because she refused to convert to Catholicism.
In 1865, Bruckner attended the premiere of Richard Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde, an experience that was to transform his artistic life. From that moment on, Bruckner became an almost fanatical follower of Wagner. While Bruckner was a huge fan of Wagner, the extent to which Bruckner’s own compositions were influenced by Wagner’s music is a matter of debate.
The music critic and writer Harold Schonberg said of Bruckner:
“Bruckner was a simple man, incredibly rustic and naive. He had a shaven head and a country dialect; he wore homespun and ill-fitting clothes and moved in constant awe of those great city people who knew so much more about everything than he did. A child of nature, he was not well read, was completely unsophisticated, would blurt out the first thing that came into his mind. He tipped the majestic and wealthy conductor Hans Richter at the end of the final rehearsal of his Fourth Symphony. ‘Take this’ - pressing a coin into Richter’s hand - ‘and drink a mug of beer to my health’. The dumbfounded conductor looked at the coin, put it into his pocket, and later had it put on his watch chain…He met Wagner several times. On one occasion, Wagner gave him his hand, and Bruckner, overcome, bent down on his knee, pressed the Hand to his lips and said: ‘O Master, I worship you!’ Bruckner’s Third Symphony shows some of this worship, though in his music Bruckner never was really a Wagnerian.”
Despite Bruckner’s admiration for Wagner, he never wrote any operas himself and was generally more interested in the music than the drama.
Well-known conductors of his time such as Hans Richter, Gustav Mahler, and Artur Nikisch began to take an interest in his music. But when his music was performed in Vienna, the critics were absolutely brutal. In Vienna at the time, there were two primary musical sects: the Brahms sect and the Wagner sect. Bruckner belonged to the latter. However, the press of Vienna was very much aligned with Brahms, and so the critics did not go easy on Bruckner. Brahms represented tradition and bowing to his music forebears, while Wagner represented something more radical, groundbreaking, and forward-looking.
Bruckner was a bit of a late bloomer as a composer, being 39 years of age before his first major symphonic work. Unlike his idol Wagner, Bruckner was a humble and self-effacing man and was relatively insecure about his abilities. To some extent may explain some of the many textual problems in his symphonies. There is the opinion that Bruckner was so anxious for approval that he would allow friends, critics, and conductors to alter, cut, and reorchestrate large sections of his work. When he received suggestions from others, he would often feel so insecure that he would agree to the changes. However, other scholars maintain that changes were often done without Bruckner’s involvement or approval, and some works were corrupted. In any case, the first editions of his symphonies were inaccurate, unreliable, and sometimes far from Bruckner’s original intent. This was particularly true between the years of 1878 and 1903. It would not be until the formation of the International Bruckner Society in 1929 that correct editions of his works began to be published. Editors Robert Haas and Leopold Nowak were primarily responsible for the editions used today, and most conductors will use either the Haas or Nowak versions, although even between those two there are some significant differences.
Today Bruckner is primarily known for his symphonies. He wrote 11 symphonies, the first being the Study Symphony in F minor in 1863 and the last being the unfinished Symphony no. 9 between 1887 and 1896 (he was still working on it at the time of his death). His most well-known and most often performed symphonies today are his Symphony no. 4 “Romantic”, Symphony no. 7, Symphony no. 8, and Symphony no. 9.
John Berky writes of Bruckner:
“Bruckner expanded the concept of the symphonic form in ways that have never been witnessed before or since. … When listening to a Bruckner symphony, one encounters some of the most complex symphonic writing ever created. As scholars study Bruckner's scores they continue to revel in the complexity of Bruckner's creative logic”
The structure of Bruckner’s symphonies was traditional in the sense that he usually followed much of the same pattern as Beethoven. There are usually four movements, traditionally as follows:
Allegro or a moderately increasing tempo
Adagio or andante
Scherzo, trio, or dance form
Allegro in a more intense manner
Many of Bruckner’s symphonies have slower, more mysterious openings which build and open up to majestic, large themes. In the case of his Symphony no. 9, there are only three movements, but it was left incomplete because Bruckner was still working on it when he died, and many musical scholars feel it is complete the way it is. Over the course of his composing, Bruckner’s style changed very little. Bruckner's compositions looked forward to modern radicalism in music, owing to their dissonances, unprepared modulations, and roving harmonies. As Paul-Gilbert Langevin says,
“The symphonies are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-German Romanticism because of their rich harmonic language, strongly polyphonic character, and considerable length.”
Many of Bruckner’s works were not understood well in his lifetime, and he was convinced they would be better understood by future generations. Indeed, that has been the case. Bruckner’s symphonies have been compared to cathedral-like structures which are huge, take time to build, have broad arches, impose a grand spiritual feeling, and are more impressive and stunning in their summation than in their individual parts. Bruckner truly felt a connection to God in his music, and he wanted to create something lasting.
The great musicologist Deryck Cooke said of Bruckner’s symphonies:
“Despite its general debt to Beethoven and Wagner, the "Bruckner Symphony" is a unique conception, not only because of the individuality of its spirit and its materials, but even more because of the absolute originality of its formal processes. At first, these processes seemed so strange and unprecedented that they were taken as evidence of sheer incompetence.... Now it is recognized that Bruckner's unorthodox structural methods were inevitable.... Bruckner created a new and monumental type of symphonic organism, which abjured the tense, dynamic continuity of Beethoven, and the broad, fluid continuity of Wagner, in order to express something profoundly different from either composer, something elemental and metaphysical.”
The dichotomy between Bruckner the man, and Bruckner the composer has troubled musicologists for decades. On the one hand he was a musical genius, and on the other hand he was a simpleton. I admit to having difficulty myself listening to Bruckner for many years, and I concluded that I must be missing something. I didn’t understand it. Why is Bruckner so well-loved by many, and yet not by others? It is true this is not easy listening, nor is it appropriate as background music. Bruckner’s music only pays dividends upon repeated listenings, and upon taking the time to listen without distraction in order to see the larger structure. He builds something monumental, but it requires patience. Bruckner pointed the way for his good friend Gustav Mahler, and we hear a lot of Bruckner’s influence in Mahler. Bruckner is really the essence of the late German Romantic tradition, but also took the symphonic form to entirely new places.
Bruckner’s music was loved by Adolf Hitler because he saw it as expressing the longings of the German people, and Hitler even consecrated a bust of Bruckner in a widely photographed ceremony in 1937 at Regensburg's Walhalla temple. Bruckner’s music was very popular in Nazi Germany. In fact, Hitler had planned to turn the monastery in St. Florian, where Bruckner went to school and later taught, into a repository for Bruckner’s manuscripts (Bruckner was buried in the crypt directly under his beloved organ). Hitler kicked out the monks and paid for the building to be renovated into a Bruckner library. Hitler’s involvement also helped create the Bruckner Symphony Orchestra. When the news was announced on the radio of Hitler’s death, the Adagio from Bruckner’s Seventh symphony was played.
The Nazi connection to Bruckner’s music has not tainted Bruckner’s reputation, as it has with Wagner's to some degree. Unlike Wagner, the Israel Philharmonic has programmed Bruckner’s music since the war. Several TV and movie productions have used Bruckner’s music since World War II, and even in Vienna where Bruckner’s music was critiqued so harshly, his music is now part of the regular repertoire of the Vienna Philharmonic. The reason Bruckner is not associated nearly as much with the Nazis as Wagner is because there is little reliable evidence that Bruckner said or wrote anything against the Jews, while Wagner was very outspoken in his anti-semitic views.
Symphony no. 9
Bruckner was still working on his final symphony when he died in 1896, and thus sometimes it is also called his “unfinished”. However, at a running time of over an hour, it is certainly longer than most completed symphonies. As he progressed with his work on this final symphony, Bruckner continually prayed that God might allow him to finish it. He said, “If He takes the pen from my hand, it is His responsibility.”
Bruckner’s Ninth is sometimes viewed as a musical link between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Wagner had opened a new tonal world, especially in the harmonic dissonance he used in Tristan und Isolde, and Bruckner would explore this trend further. The scherzo is a foreshadowing of what we would hear later from composers such as Bartok and Stravinsky. The first and third movements with their dissonances and progressions look forward to the so-called Second Viennese School developments of Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern. Although sketches exist of what would have been a massive fourth movement, in the form it is traditionally played now with just three movements, it finishes with an adagio. But perhaps this is fitting for Bruckner’s swan song.
The symphony progresses as follows:
Feierlich, misterioso - the symphony begins with a distant sort of solemn tone which builds tension, turning into a spinning wall of sound and eventually bursting forth into the main theme. This is followed by a hymn-like passage, and then it goes into a restless third theme. In the midst of this, a motive is developed which will appear again in the coda.
Scherzo. Bewegt, lebhaft - the second movement scherzo is highlighted by a pounding, brutal main theme which repeats several times. In the middle is a trio which begins in a lovely, light-footed manner but also morphs in unsettling ways.
Adagio. Langsam, feierlich - the final movement becomes Bruckner’s valedictory song. Unfolding slowly, the movement arrives at an exploding ecstatic climax. If there is anything that evokes Wagner’s Tristan, it is this movement. There follows a beautiful theme, nostalgic and sentimental. A march-like theme, which harks back to the first movement, appears next. Finally the nostalgic theme returns again, joined by a noble hymn-like theme. The music takes a more dissonant turn, working its way to a well-known seven note terrible grinding dissonance. There is silence, but then a return to the symphony’s opening statement. In the finishing pages, Bruckner quotes phrases from his Seventh and Eighth symphonies.
The Essential Recording
Bruckner’s Ninth is not easy to love. It takes patience and time. It does not reveal its gifts readily as one might expect with Mozart, Beethoven, or even Brahms. One must listen with the long view in mind, and not get bogged down in the moment. There is a larger structure, but you must allow it to unfold. As for the criticism that Bruckner wrote one symphony and then repeated it eight more times, what you will notice if you listen to the Bruckner symphonies in the order they were composed is that he does grow as a composer and indeed the last three symphonies show significantly more integrity and vision than the previous ones.
In a legendary conducting career of 54 years, Italian conductor Carlo Maria Giulini made many critically acclaimed recordings. His studio recordings on the EMI label with the Philharmonia Orchestra of London of the Mozart operas and the Verdi Requiem won him great praise. His live 1955 recording of Verdi’s La Traviata with soprano Maria Callas was also a triumph. Giulini’s recordings of the Brahms symphonies and A German Requiem with the Vienna Philharmonic on the DG label are among my personal favorites of those works. But Giulini made no better recording than his 1988 recording of Bruckner’s Symphony no. 9 with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra on Deutsche Grammophon.
While Giulini may have come to Bruckner relatively late in his career, he brings to this interpretation a deep understanding of the monumental structure, and how everything is linked together. The Vienna Philharmonic play gloriously for Giulini. The brass are weighty, the woodwinds are plangent, and the strings are able to adapt their tone to whatever Giulini requests. Where Giulini really triumphs is in bringing out the internal clarity within each movement, and how it all relates. The textures are clear, and no detail is left to chance.
Although this recording is one of the slower Bruckner Ninths, at no point do I find it dragging. In fact, Giulini seems to find the correct pacing throughout as though he is carefully building the super-structure. The Scherzo is hard driven as it should be, with excellent dynamic control, but still allows space for its impact to be felt. The final Adagio is where the Vienna Philharmonic shine, with string playing that is unmatched and where the horns in particular cut through the orchestra with power and refinement. This is a reading of authority, with a bold vision of Bruckner’s intent, with playing and recording quality to match. I am left in awe at the end of this recording, and I feel a debt of gratitude to Bruckner for bringing forth such a transcendent masterpiece.
Other recommended recordings
There are many outstanding recordings of Bruckner’s Symphony no. 9, below is only a partial list of some of the best. As always there is a good deal of subjectivity in my choices, and my views of particular recordings change at times.
There is only one extant recording of Bruckner’s Ninth by famed German conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler, and it is from October 1944 with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (it has been on various labels and is on streaming services, the one I am listening to is on the Praga label). Fair warning as usual with Furtwängler recordings this is not in modern sound, there is a good amount of hiss, and the sound is somewhat constricted. But it is perfectly listenable, and the performance itself is still one of the most compelling. The power and intensity of this live recording have rarely been matched, and there is the historical context of the impending downfall of the German nation. The Berlin Philharmonie had been destroyed earlier in the year, so this recording was made in the Beethovensaal. Inevitably we “read into” the interpretation the sense of brutal destruction and secular emptiness which must have plagued the orchestra and listeners at the time. I have never heard a more terrifying recording of any work; it cuts close to the bone. Undoubtedly Furtwängler goes to extremes of tempos and dynamics in certain sections of each movement, as he often did, and ultimately this is what his greatness was about. The final minute and a half of the coda in the first movement are utterly apocalyptic (in a good way), and Furtwängler;s knack for bringing out the darkness and drama at just the right time is extremely moving. The martial quality of the second movement Scherzo is appropriately violent as well, and the final Adagio is heartbreaking. If you love Bruckner, this recording is a must or even essential if you can tolerate the sound limitations.
The Columbia Symphony Orchestra conducted by Bruno Walter, recorded in 1959 for Columbia/Sony, still packs a punch and Walter was one of the greatest Brucknerians. There is terror and spaciousness here, even if Walter was a bit more “objective” with the score than Giulini and Abbado, and perhaps slightly less hard driven. Walter was a master at highlighting and maintaining the singing line, and he does this throughout the long phrases of the Ninth as well as anyone. The Adagio is stunning, this was the kind of music Walter was born to conduct, the lyricism playing directly into his hands. Walter also never rushes anything, but lets the structure and tempos speak for themselves. The sound is quite good for the time.
This was unexpected: Zubin Mehta’s stupendous account from 1965 with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra on Decca is undoubtedly one of the great recordings of this symphony. First, the sound from the old Sofiensaal in Vienna is trademark Decca from the 1960s, warm and detailed. I sometimes forget that Mehta made a handful of simply marvelous recordings in the 1960s and 1970s. This is one of them to be sure. This is a propulsive and moving performance, with bold horns and velvety strings. More than that, Mehta’s direction is passionate, designed to pull every ounce of emotion from the score. His pacing is near ideal for dramatic build ups and climaxes, and the main themes are carefully but purposefully presented but also wonderfully varied on each successive restatement. The brass blaze where needed, and there is no lack of savagery. But the Adagio is played with incredible tenderness and transcendence, and it is entirely convincing. In short, I was not familiar with this recording before, but now it is unforgettable to me.
Also from 1965 is the first, and for me the best, of Bernard Haitink’s three commercial recordings. This first one was with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam on the Philips label (his second was also with the Concertgebouw on Philips from 1981, and his third with the London Symphony Orchestra on LSO Live from 2013). This first recording boasts immediate, warm and attractive sound from the Concertgebouw, but it is also the quickest and most gripping of Haitink’s accounts, as he would get slower later. There is nothing wrong with slowness in Bruckner, but I find this earlier account more dramatically intense and engaging. I was fortunate enough to see Haitink conduct a number of times in Boston, and his live performances were always memorable. Unfortunately, some of his recordings do not show him in the best light, and his straightforward style and faithfulness to the score could sometimes be construed as uninvolving or boring. But this early Ninth is brilliant, just like Haitink’s early Brahms symphony set with the Concertgebouw. Listen to the trio section in the middle of the Scherzo…this is terrific stuff. The 1981 recording is also good, as is the more recent LSO Live account. But they are not as taut and exciting as the first one. This recording is difficult to find on streaming services at this time, but I found it on YouTube and it can still be purchased on CD.
The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Herbert von Karajan, recorded in 1966 in the Jesus-Christus-Kirche in Berlin for Deutsche Grammophon. It still sounds good, and Karajan in his heyday was one of the finest Bruckner conductors, as shown on this recording. His goal was to scale Mount Olympus so to speak, with a grand vision, passionate, illuminating, and moving. If Karajan misses a bit of the mystery of the piece, it is more than outweighed by the power and grandeur. Karajan would record the Ninth again in 1975 with the BPO at the Philharmonie also for DG, and it is also an outstanding recording. I find the earlier account more urgent and more fiery, whereas the later one has richer sound and captures the spiritual aspect of the work a bit better. But they are both excellent accounts, and Karajan’s Bruckner is eminently recommendable.
German conductor Eugen Jochum has often been cited as one of the most masterful Bruckner conductors of the 20th century. He recorded the Ninth commercially at least three times, but the one that stands out to me is his 1978 recording on EMI/Warner with the Staatskapelle Dresden, recorded in the Lukaskirche in Dresden. First, let me say the sound is rather strident and forward which will not be to everyone’s liking. But what I feel when listening to this recording is the absolute conviction of the musicians and the conductor. It reminds me of the Furtwängler recording in terms of the emotional extremes and the feeling of terror and even savagery. Sample at about 2’25” in the first movement, it hits me hard. Then listen to the Scherzo, this is my absolute favorite account of the Scherzo on record in its blatant in your face quality. It nearly blows me away. Just hear the Dresden strings at 4’55” in the first movement, if this doesn’t move you then I can’t help you. The brass are brilliant throughout, listen at around 3’00” in the final Adagio. In summary this is deeply felt Bruckner, and I love it.
Czech conductor Rafael Kubelik is not a conductor I normally associate with Bruckner, but his live 1985 recording of the Ninth with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra on the Orfeo label is one of my favorites. This would be Kubelik’s final recording with the BRSO, the orchestra he had directed for 18 years, and there is a valedictory sense to the event. The first movement is slightly quicker than the norm, and somehow Kubelik finds a way to make it all sound more lyrical than monumental. There are the monumental moments of course, but the forward flow and momentum are not disrupted. The faster than usual rush to the coda in the first movement is terrifying. The second movement is driven and emotional, with playing containing weight, precision, and clarity. It is still quicker than many other versions but carries plenty of intensity. Kubelik’s overall vision might be described as less doom and gloom than others, permitting more light to stream in, and this is true of the final Adagio as well. There is still the feeling of tragedy, but the alternate feeling of hope is just as strong. This is a valid approach, one that I find enjoyable in the hands of Kubelik. The sound is true to what you might hear in a concert hall, I would call it good stereo sound considering it is a live radio broadcast.
The Austrian composer and conductor Georg Tintner (1917-1999) mostly conducted in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. As a boy in Austria, Tintner was the first Jewish boy ever accepted into the Vienna Boys Choir. Later he would study conducting with the legendary Felix Weingartner. Just before the war broke out, he left Vienna in 1938, and by 1940 was in New Zealand and became a New Zealand citizen in 1946. Eventually he would work in opera in Australia, being credited for bringing Australian opera to TV. In 1987 he moved to Canada, and in 1999 after a long struggle with cancer Tintner jumped to his death from the 11th floor of his apartment in Halifax. Before his death Tintner had completed recording all of Bruckner’s symphonies, a composer he strongly identified with over his career. His recording of Bruckner’s Ninth dates from 1997 and was recorded with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in Glasgow for the Naxos label. Tintner became somewhat of a sensation, coming to public recognition late in his career mostly for his wonderful Bruckner recordings with Naxos. His Ninth is characterized by strength and almost granite-like integrity. Tintner was not disposed to gratuitous emotion or empty gestures. Pacing and dynamics are well-judged, and Tintner knows exactly when to broaden the long phrases and when to create more urgency. Textures are transparent, and the brass cut through the density with ease. The RSNO may not have the full sonority and lush tone of the top tier German orchestras, but they play with personality and understanding. Listen to the final five minutes of the first movement, this is playing of distinction. The coda blazes with conviction. The Scherzo is vigorous and weighty. The Adagio is the high point of this recording, it has a concentration, finality and wistfulness which speak volumes. This is the highlight of Tintner’s Bruckner set.
German conductor Günter Wand specialized in the German composers and had a special affinity for Bruckner. He recorded the Ninth many times, but the best one in my view is his final performance ever conducting this symphony with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra (Hamburg) live at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in 2001 when Wand was 89. You can find the video of the performance on YouTube or on the NDR Elbphilharmonie’s own website. Wand was to pass away only a few months later. Wand’s other recordings are well worth investigating, especially with the NDR live from the same festival in Lübeck Cathedral in 1988 on RCA (difficult to find), his live NDR performance from 1994 in Hamburg also on RCA, and finally his live Berlin Philharmonic recording from 1998 on RCA. But this final recording has a warmth, clarity, and beauty lacking on other accounts. The bass strings and brass are captured especially well. Wand’s interpretations of Bruckner, similar to his recordings of Beethoven and Brahms, are remarkably consistent and so tempos and dynamics are roughly the same as the other recordings. But there is an extra ounce of weight, electricity and rapt concentration present here. Not only that, but the chromatic shadows and darker moments are emphasized to an even greater extent than on Wand’s earlier recordings. The intensity of the first movement coda is terrific, and the second movement is especially militaristic. The final Adagio radiates a yearning that is gut-wrenching. The sound quality is outstanding.
The 2010 live recording with Daniel Barenboim conducting the Staatskapelle Berlin on Deutsche Grammophon is one of the finest modern recordings available. I am a hesitant advocate of Barenboim the conductor, as I rarely warm to his rather anonymous style (I admire his pianism more, but that is a topic for another post). But this is his third go around with the Bruckner Ninth after putting down decent accounts earlier in Chicago and Berlin, and it is by far his best. Barenboim has become a very good Brucknerian along the way. The full and rich sound quality helps Barenboim too, with the Berliners bringing tremendous elan to the performance. The strings are glorious, and the brass resonant and distinguished. The tension and build up in the first movement is breathtaking, and in the second movement there is real bite and aggressiveness. The stormy and angst-ridden moments are played out to the full, and the Adagio has all the pathos you might want as the themes of death and consolation alternate. Barenboim never allows the emotion to spill over the top, but he does bring things right to the edge. Most importantly, Barenboim avoids the boredom that often sets in with some of his other recordings.
The Lucerne Festival Orchestra recorded Bruckner’s Ninth conducted by Claudio Abbado in Abbado’s final recording made live in 2013 as part of Abbado’s final concert and recorded by Accentus and released by Deutsche Grammophon. Abbado was ill, making the performance that much more poignant and moving, although this concert was not planned as Abbado’s final concert. But even on just the musical merits, this recording is a top contender. Abbado brings some of the same insights and qualities to bear as Giulini, with weight, depth, and sensitivity. The Adagio in particular is one of a handful of the best versions ever recorded. Abbado handles the flow as naturally as you could imagine, and he always allows us to hear the musical line as it progresses. The entire performance has a majesty and nobility, but also a sparkle which makes it a joy to hear. The sound is excellent, especially for a live recording.
Many of the recordings the late Mariss Jansons made toward the very end of his career with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra showcase impeccable sound quality and an orchestra at the top of their game. Such is the case with their live 2014 recording of Bruckner’s Ninth (inexplicably not released until five years later). Jansons recorded the Ninth earlier with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, but this one is better. Jansons had a tendency throughout his career to favor beauty of sound over depth of interpretation, but there is nothing to prevent both priorities from being present as they are here. The BRSO sounds superb, and Jansons also plumbs the depths in a way that brings out Bruckner’s extended lines wonderfully. Listen from 7’55” in the first movement to the passion and dark hues, and later in the movement how Jansons pulls at our hearts with the massive build up to the coda. There is an authority and confidence here which is missing in some other Jansons recordings (although I still love his early Tchaikovsky symphony cycle from Oslo on Chandos). The coda itself is every bit as shattering as it should be, which leads into a second movement of weight and intensity. Jansons builds the structure slowly, not wanting to play his full hand too early. This pays dividends in an Adagio which is grim but has glimpses of hope. The conclusion is heart-rending, and even more unfortunate is that Jansons passed away in 2019 without the opportunity to complete the entire cycle of Bruckner’s symphonies with the BRSO.
On the recommendation of MusicWeb International reviewer Ralph Moore, whom I greatly respect, I listened to German conductor and Bruckner specialist Gerd Schaller’s third recording of the Ninth overall, and his second “completion” of the symphony recorded live with the Philharmonie Festiva in 2018 for the Profil label. Schaller first recorded the three movement symphony in 2012, next came his recording with his first completion in 2016, and finally this final completion version from 2018. If you are comparing apples to apples, the first question is how does Schaller stand up to the traditional competition in the first three movements? The answer is quite well in the 2018 version, and I would put it up against any other modern version. It is clear that Schaller and his orchestra are fully immersed in the Bruckner idiom, and insights abound. Their familiarity with Bruckner and this symphony especially brings a devotional quality which I enjoyed. Brass in particular are assertive and bold. The second question is whether Schaller’s IV. Finale. Misterioso, nicht schnell is successful as a completion? Does it feel in keeping with what Bruckner might have done? There were some sketches left by Bruckner, but this is not a “reconstruction” as there was just not enough material. So Schaller calls it a “completion”, and thus it is almost all Schaller’s work. In my view, it certainly does justice to Bruckner and it works as well as any other completions. It is interesting to hear, and is played with conviction. For me, I won’t feel the need to go back to it often because I am satisfied with what Bruckner left in the first three movements. But it is well worth exploring. The sound is a bit too reverberant for my taste, and some details are lost or absorbed, but it does have warmth.
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra led by Manfred Honeck recorded the Ninth in 2019 for Reference Recordings. Boasting demonstration class clear and vivid sound, this is a gut-wrenching, spiritual, and life-enhancing performance played superbly by the PSO with Honeck displaying tremendous control. For me, the Scherzo is a shade too fast, but in all other ways this is a stunning recording. Honeck proves to have some wonderful ideas about Bruckner, in particular he makes it all of one piece in a way which joins disparate parts together which gives more unity to the whole. In this way he reminds me of Jochum, where both of them reject any episodic qualities to the long movements. A triumph for Honeck and his fine Pittsburgh orchestra.
Honorable Mention
I know I say this a lot, but it is especially true for Bruckner’s Ninth: many, if not most, of the recordings listed below are good to very good and certainly worth a listen. Readers may come to different conclusions than I do, in other words some may rank one or more of those recordings below as recommended or even essential.
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra / Hans Knappertsbusch (Profil 1950)
Concertgebouw Orchestra / Eduard van Beinum (DG 1956)
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra / Joseph Keilberth (Orfeo 1960)
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra / Carl Schuricht (EMI/Warner 1961)
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra / Eugen Jochum (DG 1966)
New Philharmonia Orchestra / Otto Klemperer (EMI/Warner 1970)
Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Carlo Maria Giulini (EMI/Warner 1977)
Concertgebouw Orchestra / Bernard Haitink (Philips/Decca 1981)
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra / Daniel Barenboim (Teldec/Warner 1991)
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra / Günter Wand (RCA/Sony 1991)
NDR Sinfonieorchester / Günter Wand (RCA/Sony 1994)
Minnesota Orchestra / Stanislaw Skrowaczewski (Reference 2012)
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra / Sir Simon Rattle (EMI/Warner 2012)
London Symphony Orchestra / Bernard Haitink (LSO 2013)
Philharmonia Orchestra / Christoph von Dohnanyi (Signum 2014)
Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra / Simone Young (Oehms 2014)
Concertgebouw Orchestra / Mariss Jansons (RCO 2016)
Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Riccardo Muti (CSO 2016)
Tonkunstler Orchestra / Yutaka Sado (Tonkunstler 2017)
Munich Philharmonic / Valery Gergiev (Munich 2019)
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra / Herbert Blomstedt (BR 2019)
Budapest Festival Orchestra / Ivan Fischer (Channel 2021)
Gürzenich-Orchester Köln / François-Xavier Roth (Myrios 2021)
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra / Christian Thielemann (Sony 2023)
Thank you for hanging in there with this very long post, I know I have exceeded the recommended length for Substack. I didn’t know how to do justice to Bruckner and all the excellent recordings without trying to be as complete as possible.
Join me next time when we feature Jean Sibelius’ Violin Concerto, one of my favorite concertos ever written. See you then!
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Notes:
Berky, John F. Anton Bruckner – An Introduction by John F. Berky. Abruckner.com. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
Brennan, Gerald. Reisig, Wayne Gerard. Schrott, Allen. Woodstra, Chris. All Music Guide to Classical Music, The Definitive Guide. All Media Guide. Pp. 222, 225. Backbeat Books, San Francisco. 2005.
Bridle, Marc. Anton BRUCKNER (1824-1896) Symphony No. 9. Online review at https://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2022/Apr/Bruckner-sy9.
Carr, Victor. BOYBruckner: Symphony No. 9/Wand DVD. Classics Today review. April 2006. Online at https://www.classicstoday.com/review/review-12632/.
Carr, Victor. Mehta Bruckner 9. Review online at https://www.classicstoday.com/review/review-6892/.
Cooke, New Grove (1980), 3:365.
Evans, Richard J. (2008) The Third Reich at War. New York: Penguin Books. p. 579. ISBN 978-0-14-311671-4.
Haas, Robert (1931). Aufführungspraxis, Handbuch der Musikwissenschaft, herausgegeben von Dr. Ernst Bücken. Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft Athenaion, Wildpark-Potsdam.
In German "halb Genie, halb Trottel". This description is often, but mistakenly, attributed to Gustav Mahler. Hans-Joachim Hinrichsen: "»Halb Genie, halb Trottel«. Hans von Bülows Urteil über Anton Bruckner". In: IBG-Mitteilungsblatt 55 (2000), pp. 21–24.
Langevin, Paul-Gilbert. Anton Bruckner – apogée de la symphonie, l'Age d'Homme, Lausanne, 1977 – ISBN 978-2-8251-0880-2.
Moore, Ralph. Anton BRUCKNER (1824-1896) Symphony No. 9. Philharmonie Festiva. Gerd Schaller. Profil. Review online at https://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2019/Apr/Bruckner_sy9.
Osborne, Richard. Bruckner Symphony no. 9. Gramophone Magazine. https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/bruckner-symphony-no-9-16
Schonberg, Harold C. The Lives of the Great Composers, Revised Edition. Religion, Mysticism, and Retrospection. Pp. 452-456. Norton & Company, London and New York. 1981.
Tintner, Tanya. Out of Time: The Vexed Life of Georg Tintner, Foreword.
https://www.azquotes.com/author/50018-Anton_Bruckner
I greatly enjoyed this essay. I agree that the Carlo Maria Giulini version is very good. It has a grandeur and it never feels rushed. Thank you for covering classical music. It is often neglected.