It was 2 days ago – I opened my mails box and found a gift from Yoshi with a few very interesting Japanese CDs.

It was September 17, 1986. The ending his career Eugen Jochum takes Royal Concertgebouw to Japanese tour and plays in Tokyo Bruckner 7. It is recorded “live” and Altus Label released it on ALTO15/6 in their series “Tokyo Live”. What an interesting performance, particularly the first movement

There are many problems here and there in the Concertgebouw play under that Jochum, the second part of Adagio the sections were chasing each other and almost off the tune. But the Concertgebouw is one of the very few orchestras who can play slow and they in the first movement demonstrated a tour-de-force of slow play. There is some very freakish confidence with which Concertgebouw roles to own notes. It hard to explain: it is not really a tempo but a very idiosyncratic prolonging of notes before to collapsing them to the targeted pitch. Very, almost physically pleasant!

The Jochum opening thyme of the first movement has also one of the best ever introduction of the cellos among many others, not to mention that this cellos opening has a specials meaning to me…

After listening the Tokyo performance I decided to learn what else they play during that Japanese tour. To my big surprised I discovered that the entire performance was videotaped and… available on you tube.  God bless that Japanese Island and God bless the internet! Here is the first part, follow up the rest parts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpvvzwbcSPo

I have an EMI DVD of Jochum conducting Bruckner 7.  Orchestre National de France, played in the Theatre de Champs Elysees, Paris, France, on 6th February 1980.

The performance is very special.  The opening especially is pretty much perfect!
You can buy it very cheaply on eBay here http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Eugene-Jochum-Bruchkner-Symphony-No-7-DVD_W0QQitemZ370037872974QQihZ024QQcategoryZ2288QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262

It's coupled with Wagner Tristan & Isolde excerpts from 1964.

It is 184 years…. Here is a funny renderation of Happy Birthday tune in Bruckner estimable style. The file is courtesy to John Berky of www.abruckner.com

http://www.abruckner.com/Data/editorsnote/happybirthday/birthday_bruckner.mp3

LondonCSA 2216 (stereo), 1966

Given a work as monumental as B7 and an orchestra as mighty as the 1966 CSO, how do you play it?

While Solti is too smart and experienced to pull out all the stops, I can't shake the picture of someone driving around town in a Lamborghini.  Basically, there's no way to hide all that horsepower, and in this case it becomes a matter of always having far more on tap than you need.  Solti does crank it up when appropriate; way up, in fact.  And IMO it is durning the grandest fortissimos that this version fares the best, because this group can do it with such flair and control.  Solti obviously realizes it, and he patiently waits to invoke this special effect, while working some other inter-sectional effects that the orchestra also handles with aplumb.

I love the first movement of this symphony, and I like the 2nd half of the Addagio and Scherzo, and the Finale.  It's not that I dislike this version of this symphony.  I just can't help but believe it could be presented in a more coherent fashion, musically, even by a less-powerful orchestra.

London actually delivers on their "ffrr" wide frequency response claims; yet they must still ride the gain knobs.  Although they are a lot more subtle about it than others, I can say that hearing the 1966 CSO live was a whole 'nother kettle of fish.

BTW: This was a "sessions" recording.

Paul S

The First Annual
East Coast Brucknerathon!
Friday & Saturday, September 4 & 5
 
Hosted by John Berky &  Ken Jacobson at Ken's home in Simsbury, Connecticut
Tentative Schedule
 
Friday, September 4 (Windsor Locks, near Bradley Airport):
Cocktails and Dinner at a local restaurant (walking distance from airport hotels)
 
 
Saturday, September 5 (Simsbury):
 
8:00AM: Symphony in F Minor
Dong-Ho Lee / Jeju Philharmonic (Korea) (Orch. CD) (2008)
 
 
9:00AM: Symphony No. 1 (1866 Linz / Ed. Carragan)
Georg Tintner / Scottish National Orchestra (Naxos CD)
 
10:00AM: Symphony in D Minor
Gennadi Rozhdestvensky / USSR Ministry of Culture Orchestra (BMG CD) (1983)
 
11:00AM: Symphony No. 2 (1872 Edition / Ed. Carragan)
Herbert Blomstedt / Montreal Symphony Orchestra (2007)
 
12:15PM: Symphony No. 3 (1874 version / Ed. Carragan)
*** By special permission from Delta Records ***
Akira Naito / Tokyo New City Orchestra
 
1:30PM: Symphony No. 4 (Korstvedt Ed.) 
Stephane Deneve / Scottish National Orchestra (Edinburgh, 2006)
 
2:45PM: Symphony # 5
Eduard van Beinum  / Concertgebouw Orchestra (1959)
 
4:25PM: Symphony No. 6 (Hynais Edition)
Ira Levin / Norrlands Opera Orchestra (Lindoro CD)
 
5:35PM: Dinner Break
 
6:00PM: Symphony No. 7 (DVD)
Eugen Jochum / Concertgebouw Orchestra (1986 - Tokyo) (Altus DVD)
 
7:15PM: Symphony No. 8 (DVD)
Takashi Asahina / Osaka Philharmonic (2001) (Exton DVD)
 
 9:45PM: Symphony No. 9
Mvts 1-3: Fabio Luisi / Dresden Staatskapelle  (Sony CD)
Mvt. 4 (Carragan Completion): Akira Naito / Tokyo New City Orchestra (Delta CD)
 
11PM: Conclusion
 
 
Our playlist will be guided to some degree by the distinguished guests who are planning to attend. They include Benjamin Korstvedt, William Carragan, Fanfare reviewer, Robert McColley and KUHF Station Manager, John Proffitt.
 
COST: $25.00 per person to cover cost of food and refreshments. Transportation to and from Simsbury will be provided unless you arrive late and/or leave early.
 
Bradley International Airport (BDL) is located just 10 minutes from my home.  Several nice, but economy hotels are located nearby on Route 75 (Ella Grasso Turnpike). They include the Fairfield Inn, La Quinta Inn, and the Doubletree Hotel. Friday dinner will be within walking distance of these hotels.
 
Questions can be addressed to: john@abruckner.com

My Grandma died. She was in her 90s…

The funeral was next morning. I learned about Grandma in the beginning of the day but a lot of little pathetic errands did not allow me to leave for Philadelphia right the way, not to mention that there was already no reasons to hurry… I got free from all my routine obligations at 11PM and decided to drive from Boston to Philadelphia over night. I left at 2AM and there were 340 miles ahead of me. I did not take any music with me in my car, I am truly would like to be alone, to think about Grandma…

It was a hot and damped New England summer, middle of the week and the roads were empty. I was driving a convertible with top down, it was night, it was dark and it was in a way free for anything superficial - the only wind was heard… I was thinking about my Grandma… I am not exactly what might be called family-oriented person, but the memories about my Grandma were the most colorful my feelings about relatives who are able to be unconditionally-devoted. I kind of remember from my childhood my Grandma more then I even remember my parents…

I was driving fast, much fasted then might be considered sane. The BMW 330Ci is a dead car performance-wise but when it run over 100 miles per hour than it cares road very nicely. If you were insane enough to drive a convertible Beemer with top down over 130 miles per hour then you know how wind sounds… I was looking for some loud sound that would make prevent hearing myself crying…  There were practically no cars on road and if I saw any I passed them with 40m/h gap. I was gloriously-alone on that Connecticut highway, only wind and the patches of fog….

Somewhere approaching NY I recognized that I need gas; I exited the Route 95 and was searching a gas station. While I was pumping the gas I went to the store to get something to drink. The first thing that I saw in the store was a large shallow cardboard box with mount of used, broken and very anti-hygienic CDs and a big sign “$1.99  each”. On the very top of it, right in my face there was a box with Bruckner 7 Symphony. When I was very little and my Grandma cooked cookies I was always asked her which cookie shell I take. “Take whatever cookie is looking at you…” my Grandma always told me…

I left the store with the Bruckner…

I had no idea who it was. The conductor was Franz Welser-Möst. I never hear about the guy but he conducted at this performance the Proms and the play was quite good. Still the Seventh was hardly audible as NY was closing, I drove 135m/h and the surface noise, wind as and the car noise were much louder then Bimmer’s stock radio might play (that car had sport package that comes with very low-profile but noise at some surfaces tires). I recognized the Seventh only by the fractions of notes, what was kind of enough for me….

It was 4.30AM, it was a dozen miles before the Hudson, it was insanely fast and insanely loud.  Here and there the clouds of fog cover the RT95… I was not suicidal. I did know the road very well, the car was handling very good, and there were practically no cars on the highway. I need to admit that self-destructiveness is a part of my personality but the very cognitive self-destructiveness.  I was not suicidal but I was subconsciously testing the boundaries of Reality. The Reality as I knew it – with my Grandma living somewhere – was gone and the new World Order was coming:  I was “testing” how much I might go away in this New Word….

The few last miles before the George Washington Bridge were particularly “dramatic”. There were some road workers with caps here and there and I each second was expected that I will be arrested. The Route 95 right before the Bridge turned to be a semi-tunnel, the noise from the road and from the zillion puddles sounds like a cannonade. I floored the Bimmer pedal as I saw the ramp for the Bridge’s upper level.  The car jumped at the last puddle like an agonizing animal, the CD skipped and from wherever it was it defaulted to the first track. I broke to the George Washington Bridge’s upper level and suddenly the surround noise stopped. The highway surface was different, the reflections from the road are gone, I felt that it was almost a silence. The Bridge looks stunning: the upper side was covered with dirty fog with the Bridge’s lights trying to break through. The road was leading up and the end of the road was losing into the fog and darkness. The caring towers of the Bridge, the roads between them and the total darkness ahead were like the mouth and jaws of a mythical beast. I was 110m/h and the car was climbing up to the Bridge’s top.

Suddenly it happened. The opening cellos of the Bruckner Seventh got loud enough and then what the whole orchestra kicked in heard that roaring harmony of fate and destiny with witch Bruckner opens his symphony. The Seventh, the mythical jaws of the Bridge behind which use to “be” my Grandma were functioning as a  great counterpoints acting very harmoniously and very sensually .  The new life, the life with Grandma, was beginning and I understood that I will be a different in the New Jersey…. 

London ffrr, CSA2216,; stereo LP

I have always found the first movement of this symphony to be the most musically satisfying part of it, and nothing in the cited performance has changed this old bias.  I have to give Solti credit here, however, for enough insight and patience to almost pull this thing together for me.

But let's face it, this symphony does not get really "pulled off" very often, for all the obvious reasons.  It is "Big", it's "Complex", and it's barely coherent for long stretches at a time.  Yet everyone concerned has to get it and render his own part well as part of the whole getting it well to really get it right.  It's got to be frustrating for a musician, to try his best and feel he's "done well" only to hear the playback and wonder where the hell that noise came from, that he'd been thinking all along was a symphony.  And I imagine that this happens more often with Bruckner's 7th than it does with, say, Beethoven's 3rd, or Dvorak's 9th.  Although I tend to be tougher on conductors, I would suppose that they are probably at least as likely to wind up wondering what just happened.

This vintage of the Vienna Philharmonic can play pretty much anything, and they can do it pretty much like any conductor would want.  In this performance, Solti needs only a light rein on the very attentive VPO, and he does not torture them.  He is very patient, but I don't sense he's testing the musicians; rather he is giving the very discursive 2nd, 3rd and most of the 4th movements time to "develop".  He does this as well as any version I remember, given the limits of his reading, and it does serve the symphony, well enough.

In audio terms, this recording is one of the better London ffrrs I own.

Paul S

Minnesota orchestra under button of Osmo Vanska played Bruckner 7 and the performance is available to download for free at:

http://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/musicondemand/

It is unfortunately in 256kbps, but it is what it is. The play itself is a bit not in my taste - they play Bruckner too dancey, but it is what it is as well….

Somebody posted at Symphonyshare a great recording that I been enjoying for 2 days. It is Eugen Jochum leads Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Among all the Bruckner 7 that Jochum recorded I think this is the earliest I hears and it is very very good, probably with exception of the third movement. The first two movements are beyond reproach. It was recorded by Telefunken in May of 1939

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=VB310AKE

zako wrote:

After listening to Bruckner many many times,,  And professionally recording his compositions,, I am compelled to make this auwfull statement,,, I feel that he is a second rate composer,,,He,s done a large body of work,,But his overall statement,,,TO ME is repitisially boering,,,  I sat there looking at his score " the V11" (while recording) and thought he missed a good oppertunity,here, to rephrese and pull this symphony around and make it great,,,But he slips into his bad habbit of repitionally sliding back into the Bruckterian muck,,, I,m not trying to offend Bruckner followers here,,But just expressing my feelings,,,I wiil go down stairs and again audition The Sym,V11 today,,as a pennence. 

Yes, in way I agree that Bruckner is a “second rate composer”.  The common thinking in here is that Bruckner did not compose his 14 symphonies but composed one symphonies 14 times. The similarity of expressionism of cause is there. Still, I do not approach to stratification of my expressionism base ups the irrelevant rating. What does it mean the “second rate composer”, I mean we understand what it means but what benefit this knowledge has to us, to me to you? I can give you a long list of 8th rate composers that did something that I consider was brilliant and love endlessly. I can look at some music of the “first rate composers” – I would put Mahler in there for instance – that might not touch me as much as some other music might.

When I was young I was in love with a girl next door and I was running to date with her on n bicycle, I was inspired. Then, years later, I was dating women to whom I was driving the expensive BMW but I did not experience even a fraction of that enthusiasm. Does it mean that bicycle is better transportation then BMW?

I am sure that you know the answer. The answers are within us. The rating of composers according to their composing, expressive and orchestration power is a fascinating thing to do but it hardly makes any dent on my listening preferences. Bruckner IS the second rate composer but I truly can’t not get enough of him. Does it make me the second rate listener?  That is something that I absolutely do not care. One of the greatest accomplishments that I did in audio is my realization that the only person to whom I need to prove anything in audio (in audio?) is myself. The second rate? Who cares!

BTW, taking about great Brukner. Listening now the Volkmar Andreae’s Bruckner with Vienna Symphony Orchestra. To all Bruckner fans - here is a phenomenal Xmas gift:

http://nubespartem.blogspot.com/2010/12/bruckner-symphonies-1-9-te-deum-volkmar.html

zako wrote:

After listening to Bruckner many many times,,  And professionally recording his compositions,, I am compelled to make this auwfull statement,,, I feel that he is a second rate composer,,,He,s done a large body of work,,But his overall statement,,,TO ME is repitisially boering,,,  I sat there looking at his score " the V11" (while recording) and thought he missed a good oppertunity,here, to rephrese and pull this symphony around and make it great,,,But he slips into his bad habbit of repitionally sliding back into the Bruckterian muck,,, I,m not trying to offend Bruckner followers here,,But just expressing my feelings,,,I wiil go down stairs and again audition The Sym,V11 today,,as a pennence.

Two minutes for a self-contained sketch ... then onto the next hit!  And then the next ... and the next .... Whoa! - exciting stuff.
But Bruckner isn't like that - he is in it for the long haul, for the gradual deep development.  The spaciousness and spirituality of the vaulted cathedral rather than the snappy excitement of the discotheque.

Yes, as you may have guessed by now, I am a Bruckner fan.  Perhaps my favorite composer?  Certainly and without any doubt indespensible to my happiness in life.