Anton Bruckner (1824-1896)
Symphony No. 7 in E major, WAB 107 (1883 ed. Nowak)
Mason Bates (b.1977)
Resurrexit
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra/Manfred Honeck
rec. live, 25-27 March 2022, Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts, Pittsburgh, USA
Reference Recordings FR-757SACD [78]
Manfred Honeck began his tenure as Music Director of the Pittsburgh symphony in season 2008-09. His contract, several times extended, currently runs through to the 2027-28 season. He and the orchestra have recorded a number of live albums for Reference Recordings. Mainly, these have focused on the core symphonic repertoire, including tone poems by Richard Strauss (review), Dvořák’s Eighth symphony (review), a pairing of Beethoven’s Fifth and Seventh (review) as well as the ‘Eroica’ (review), Tchaikovsky’s Fifth symphony (review) and the Sixth (review). Best of the lot, as far as I was concerned, was a superb rendition of the Brahms Fourth symphony (review). You might take a look at that discography and be forgiven for thinking it’s rather on the conservative side. However, though I’ve not heard all of those discs, the ones that have come my way have demonstrated an uncommonly thoughtful approach to the works in question: Honeck takes nothing for granted and makes a careful evaluation of all these scores.
Honeck has given us two earlier Bruckner recordings (neither of which I’ve heard): a 2013 account of the Fourth symphony (review) and a 2018 performance of the Ninth (review). Now, to follow up those recordings Reference have issued a live 2022 version of the Seventh just in time to be part of the Bruckner bicentenary. Honeck began his professional career as an orchestral string player in the Vienna Philharmonic and in his notes, he recalls playing the Seventh on several occasions as a member of that great orchestra. As is his wont, it’s Honeck himself who has authored the very detailed notes about the symphony in the Reference booklet and it’s fascinating to be led by him through the score, not just musically but also verbally. I learned a good deal from what he has to say about the Seventh, including one little nugget which I don’t think had registered with me before: in the first movement, the timpani are silent until bar 391 (at which point they enter quietly).
This account of the Seventh makes an immediately positive impression; as the opening theme unfolds spaciously, the orchestral sound is rich and full. Throughout the movement, I found Honeck’s tempi very convincing and his orchestra responds marvellously to his direction. Where appropriate, the music is given with pleasing vigour – for example, in the episode which is akin to a folk dance (from 10:52); but it’s the sonorous, spacious passages that linger longest in the memory. No passage better illustrates Honeck’s patient approach and the Pittsburghers dedicated playing than the ascent to the movement’s end (from 19:54). At the start of this episode the music glows softly; thereafter Honeck controls the build-up unerringly until the majestic final peroration.
The Adagio second movement is no less successful. Sehr feierlich und sehr langsam (very solemn and very slow) is Bruckner’s initial marking; Honeck follows him to the letter. In his booklet essay, the conductor observes that this movement “is characterised by both solemn mourning and life-affirming hope”; I think he brings out both aspects in a performance which is characterised by warmth of tone, dignity and nobility. The orchestral playing is gorgeous; the bass registers of the orchestra are satisfyingly rich and firm. I love the euphonious contributions of the Wagner tubas. Honeck unfolds the movement very well indeed. The couple of minutes in which he builds up to the movement’s main climax are particularly stirring. The climax itself (17:53) is tremendous; cymbals and triangle have their brief but telling moment in the sun. Between 19:00 and 20:15 I think it will be hard not to be impressed by the elegiac sonority of the horns and Wagner tubas; the movement’s coda has a tranquil glow to it. This is, in every respect, a very fine traversal of the movement.
Honeck and his orchestra invest the Scherzo with dynamic energy; the Trio is affectionately shaped. Much of the finale is brisk and cheerful; Honeck uses the spring in the dotted rhythms to excellent effect. But not everything is brisk; for example, the passage between 4:54 and 5:47, beginning with gentle woodwinds, is thoughtfully and tenderly done. I admire the strength of the performance of the development section. I think Honeck’s approach to this movement, culminating in a majestic coda, is surefooted and convincing.
Persuasively interpreted and marvellously played, this is a very distinguished account of the Seventh symphony.
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra commissioned Mason Bates’ Resurrexit to celebrate Manfred Honeck’s sixtieth birthday. At first sight you may think, as I did when I unwrapped the disc, that a fairly short (10:57) piece of contemporary American music and Bruckner’s Seventh make strange bedfellows. In fact, though, it seems that both pieces were on the same concert programme in March 2022. Maybe there are further connections too; after all, we know that Bruckner was a devout Christian and Bates tells us in the booklet that for inspiration he “turned to a Biblical narrative [of the Resurrection] full of mystery and the supernatural”. It’s an attractive, exciting piece. The opening has a decided flavour of mystery and of the Middle East. Later (beginning at 4:05) Bates weaves in references to the plainchant melody ‘Victimae Paschali Laudes’ and he also makes evocative use of a ‘Semantron’. I’d not heard of this before but the composer explains that it is “a large wooden plank hammered by huge mallets, used by Byzantine monks as a call to prayer”. Not long after the Semantron has made its first appearance it’s used as part of an exciting accelerando which leads to mush faster music (5:35). The music that follows has great energy and there are vibrant colours in the orchestration. I found Bates’ use of the brass section around 8:40 was particularly exhilarating. At 9:11 we hear the ‘Victimae Paschali Laudes’ melody in full orchestral panoply as Resurrexit comes to an exciting conclusion. I liked Bates’ piece very much.
There’s one element of this release which I haven’t yet mentioned: the recorded sound. The audio side of this production was in the safe hands of Soundmirror Inc. Producer Dirk Sobotka and engineers John Newton and Mark Donahue have done a great job. I listened to the stereo layer of this hybrid SACD and I thought the recorded sound was terrific. The technical team has done equal justice to the majestic sonorities of Bruckner and the glittering modern orchestration of Mason Bates. In the case of both works they have captured a great amount of detail and they’ve also given us a recording which has the full dynamic range that both pieces need. This disc is as successful on the technical side as it is on the musical side.
John Quinn
Previous review: Ralph Moore (August 2024 Recording of the Month)
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