Anton Bruckner (1824-1896)
Bruckner Symphony No. 9, WAB 109 (ed. Nowak)
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra/Christian Thielemann
rec. 2022, Großes Festspielhaus, Salzburg, Austria
Sony Classical 19658729902 [58]

Wolfgang Stähr’s notes tell us regarding the last movement of the Ninth that “as far as Thielemann is concerned, it is the Adagio that ends the work, or rather that does not end it, for here is music ‘that comes from far away’. No matter how much respect he may have for ‘reconstructions’ of the final movement, he regards the term as misleading when applied to a movement that was never completed and that remains a torso even in Bruckner’s unfinished drafts. Ultimately he cannot avoid the conclusion that “somehow one notices that there’s nothing genuinely Brucknerian about these reconstructions.” Stähr’s own, final remark is, “And any additional word would be superfluous.”

That is, of course, a perfectly respectable stance to take, so despite the plethora of options now available to any conductor who wishes to provide a finale, what we have here is the traditional three-movement version which leaves us with mystery hanging in the air.

This is the final instalment in Thielemann’s Bruckner cycle with the VPO – and it has been a mixed bag; responses, including my own, have mostly been lukewarm, praising the beauty of the sound and the playing but generally finding Thielemann’s approach flaccid and underwhelming. In my case, the notable exceptions to his excessive restraint have been his Second (review) and Third (review) symphonies but that is far from constituting a recommendation for the cycle as a whole.

As before, the Sony engineers capture the ambience of the Großes Festspielhaus wonderfully and the orchestral playing could not be more aureate and sonorous. The brass is extraordinarily present -although if I have one mild criticism of the engineering, it is that the timpani could have been more forward and vividly caught. Nor do Thielemann’s tempi seem in the least lethargic – indeed, comparison of his timings with established versions reveals that he is essentially mainstream, coming in at 57:38 (irritatingly, Sony again does not provide that total timing), which is a lot faster than one of my favourite recordings by Giulini with the VPO (68:30), somewhat quicker than Karajan with the BPO in 1975 (61:02) and similar to Walter and the Columbia SO in 1959 (58:42).

So far so good – yet here comes the rub: the climaxes simply do not deliver the frisson they should. The first great outburst at 2:14 through 2:46 should be overwhelming; doubting my ears, I made immediate comparison with Karajan and yes – there it was: a much greater, grander sense of release engendering an emotion bordering on real terror. The VPO makes a big sound but Thielemann will not let them off the leash. It’s all so tasteful and restrained – but Bruckner’s music is often raw and terrifying, despite his personal mildness and hesitancy. One episode succeeds another, imperturbably lovely in its execution and rarely stirring; dark colours are washed out in favour of charming pastels. The great central chorale goes for very little. The best part of the movement is when it is ending – and I am not being sarcastic. I hesitate to use the lazy insult “boring”, but…

The Scherzo follows the same pattern; after the ghoulish pizzicato introduction the hammered chords should be menacing – but they are not. There is simply a shortfall of fear and threat throughout; the emotional temperature is set at low to start with and never rises above a simmer. The Trio is bouncy and cute – very Disney – and the mood hardly alters with the resumption of the pizzicato theme of the Scherzo.

You will therefore not be surprised to learn that the Adagio is sumptuously played, the descending “Farewell to life” chorale by the horn and Wagner tubas being sombre and beautiful, but the second theme does not soar and sear as it should and remains earthbound. The famous, extremely dissonant chord thus lacks impact because it occurs within a context denuded of the requisite tension and struggle; there are too many soft edges and the impact of its wrenching scream is stifled by velvet padding. I can only cite as testament to its lack of torque that during one listening I was momentarily mildly distracted by another task and that chord almost passed me by. The serene coda is of course expertly played but I experience little sense of transcendence.

This final offering is a paradigm for what the listener encounters in most of the symphonies in Thielemann’s cycle and I would recommend many another above it – unless beauty of sound is your priority.

Ralph Moore

(This review reproduced here by kind permission of The Bruckner Journal.)

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