Anton Bruckner (1824-1896)
Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major (1880, ed. Haas)
Symphony No. 7 in E major (1885, ed. Haas)
Columbia Symphony Orchestra/Bruno Walter
rec. 1960 (No.4) & 1961 (No. 7), American Legion Hall, Hollywood, USA
Stereo XR Remastering
Reviewed as download
Pristine Audio PASC747 [132]

These recordings seem to have acquired the status of classics among collectors yet clearly prompt contrasting and even conflicting reactions. Some find the aging Walter’s account of the Fourth “choppy and undernourished” and the Seventh “flat and listless” where others hear a relaxed, reflective humanity and even a sublime tenderness. An additional point of contention is his omission of the cymbal clash in the Adagio of the Seventh; the current edition by Paul Hawkshaw notes the cymbal clash is definitively Bruckner and is to be included. Conductors Poschner and Rattle include it, Walter did not. Personally, I miss it.

I have also read contradictory comments regarding the quality of sound in the recording of the Fourth, whereas the Seventh seems to have been considered universally pleasing.  The former has been dubbed “cramped and airless”, whereas the Seventh was always considered first-class; I have not heard previous incarnations so can only say that Pristine have performed their usual magic and they both now sound terrific: minimal hiss, plenty of space and depth, nicely balanced – albeit without the clarity we now take for granted in modern digital engineering – and there is no longer any distortion at climaxes as reported in earlier reviews – so there is already one good reason for acquiring this if you have issues on other labels. It is also true that, given Walter’s age and ill-health, this is surprisingly urgent and driven, with little concern for the long, legato line and the orchestra is not the luxurious Big Beast many prefer to hear in Bruckner – think the BPO under Karajan, perhaps; it is in fact smaller and leaner, with less sumptuous strings and less eloquent woodwind but it is still a convincing account, with a drive which belies the leisureliness indicated by its overall duration of 66 minutes. Walter is not one for undue indulgence and for me this is all of a piece. The more Bruckner I listen to the more I am inclined to tolerate a wider variation in affect as long as the delivery of all four movements is coherent. The slow movement is straightforward, compromised slightly by the ack of sonority in the orchestra as a whole but oozing an honest integrity typical of Walter’s approach. There is no lack of vigour in the outer sections of the Scherzo and the Trio is a calm oasis. The finale is likewise tense and driven; I find it to be as good as any, especially now that the congestion in the tutti played forte, apparently present in the earlier issues,has been remedied by Andrew Rose. I defy anyone to denigrate the brass outburst at 10:48 as lacking punch and that tension is maintained triumphantly throughout the remaining ten minutes, culminating in a magnificent climax. This was a man who dedicated his artistic life to revealing the majesty of the music of Mahler and Bruckner and he wasn’t going to let old age handicap that mission.

Despite a few dissenting voices complaining of the same listlessness some claim to detect in his Fourth, the consensus over the years regarding the excellence of Walter’s Seventh here has largely been very positive – indeed some have declared it to be the pinnacle of his art. I must confess that I find Walter’s very direct opening too prosaic, devoid of mystery, challenging rather than questioning – but that is evidently a deliberate interpretative choice which happens not to sit with my own taste. This is Bruckner as an intellectual grappling with existential challenges not as the mystic seeking transcendence and the music is very emphatic in its statements. It is certainly a songful performance but is more a joyful canticle than an anthem – but the last three or four minutes are a glorious sunburst, the orchestra sounding much more radiant and expansive than in the Fourth. The Adagio, however, just does not do it for me; at first it sounds rushed and prosaic and the dynamics are maintained at a relatively unvarying mezzo forte – yet half way through the impetus picks up and I am once more not only engaged but swept along, reminding me that perhaps Walter knows what he is doing and playing the long game. The Gesangsperiode unfolds enticingly, so the absence of the cymbal clash is all the more regrettable – but the valedictory horns are simply lovely. The Scherzo is first agreeably rambunctious but the Trio is so very languorous, to a degree that to my ears makes it exaggeratedly disproportionate to the outer sections. The finale is decidedly grand and in many ways the best of the four movements.

In truth, I hardly know what to make of these recordings: for every feature I find captivating another irks or puzzles me. They are too inconsistent to merit inclusion among my preferred versions, but one cannot dismiss the output of a conductor who devoted himself to Bruckner’s music.

Ralph Moore