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09/18/2024
“Bruckner: From the Archives Volume 4”
Anton Bruckner: Symphony n° 5 in B‑Flat major, WAB 105 [1] – String Quintet in F major, WAB 112 (Gutmann Edition) [2] – Intermezzo for String Quintet, WAB 113 [2]
Vienna Konzerthaus Quartet, Ferdinand Stangler (second viola), Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Christoph von Dohnányi (conductor)
Live recording: Funkhaus, Köpenick, Berlin, Germany (Berlin Radio aircheck, stereo, December 8, 1963) [1] & Brahms-Saal, Musikverein, Vienna (mono, 1956) [2] – 124’30
Somm Recordings – Ariadne 5021‑2
 
There’s a lot to appreciate in this Bruckner Fifth, and that is to the credit of a very young Christoph von Dohnányi, who really gets inside the score. Benjamin Korstvedt’s liner note calls this “a fine example of the new, more objective approach to Bruckner performance” that emerged after World War II, and there is certainly a steadiness of tempo and an emotional sobriety that distinguish this from the conducting of Volkmar Andreae in this Somm series’ previous installment. But there is none of the blandness or extreme detachment the modern style at its worst can fall into: the conductor is constantly alive to nuance and takes care to extract expressive urgency from this most austere and least Wagnerian of Bruckner’s mature symphony, in a way consonant with its gaunt grandeur. The “Finale”, too, has the requisite contrapuntal clarity.
The Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra plays well throughout, some understandable tiring toward the end of this massive work excepted, but without the weight or sheen of the Berlin Philharmonic: the strings are not ideally refined, the brass not quite resplendent (which matters in a work with so many brass chorales). This would have been a memorable concert to attend, but probably not worthy of exhumation all these years later when notable airchecks of the same era feature the sumptuous Vienna Philharmonic under Karajan (on an old Andante set, well worthy of reissue on another label—livelier and less monolithic than his studio recording), Klemperer, and Carl Schuricht. I should note that it’s in stereo, a benefit partly obviated by a sort of swimming quality in the sound, as though the tapes were overprocessed in remastering. If that’s the case, I would much rather have kept the original surface noise instead. This transfer comes off as an aural analogue to the somewhat oddly colorized photo of Bruckner that graces the cover.
Dohnányi went on to record the Bruckner Fifth for Decca in Cleveland. I haven’t heard it, but it has gotten some excellent press. I imagine it preserves the interpretive quality of this aircheck, and the Cleveland Orchestra is certainly a virtuosic ensemble, although I wouldn’t expect from it the warm tonal blend the music thrives on.
The Quintet, together with the alternate second movement, brings no technical shortcomings in performance or recording (provided mono—full, warm mono in this case—is acceptable). The members of the Vienna Konzerthaus Quartet, here augmented by violist Ferdinand Stangler, played in the Vienna Philharmonic, and they have all the tonal beauties that would lead one to expect. If anything, their reading can seem too relaxed; a few years earlier, the Vienna Philharmonia Quintet brought to this work the same Viennese warmth but with more urgency and rhythmic bite and better delineation of voices. Some may find that the Konzerthaus players cloy at times; still, their musicality and polish are never in doubt. This is the Bruckner Quintet as more serenade than chamber symphony.
Everything in this set counts as a solid effort or better, but it’s hardly a must‑listen.
Samuel Wigutow
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