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]
This release by the Reference Recordings label is conductor Manfred Honeck’s much-anticipated live 2022 account of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Honeck’s coupling is the first recording of Mason Bates’ Resurrexit an orchestral work written to mark the conductor’s sixtieth birthday that fell in 2018.
Honeck has won countless admirers on the world stage with the performances and recordings as music director of the PSO. For some time, I have wanted to attend a concert with Honeck conducting. That came about earlier this summer at Dresden when Honeck conducted the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra at the Kulturpalast. In my review of the Kulturpalast concert I wrote that ideally, I would have wanted to see Honeck conduct a major work by Bruckner, Mahler or Richard Strauss. Nevertheless, Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 (1889) is a splendid score and the performance was magnificent.
Regarding Honeck’s conducting of Bruckner symphonies with the PSO, accolades have been given to both of his recordings: Symphony No. 4 (review) and Symphony No. 9 (review).
Honeck is an Austrian who early in his career was a violist in the Vienna State Opera Orchestra and subsequently the Vienna Philharmonic. One imagines Honeck’s connection to Bruckner, a fellow Austrian, is a strong one.
Composed between 1881-83, Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 in E major is one of his most popular symphonies. It was Arthur Nikisch who conducted its première with the Gewandhaus Orchestra at Leipzig in 1884. The work brought Bruckner the greatest success he had known. Here Manfred Honeck is conducting the 1883 version, edited by Nowak. This is a distinguished account from the PSO with Honeck’s resolute hand on the tiller. Displaying his gift for managing texture Honeck creates vivid colours and achieves impressive internal balance. Certainly nothing is strained or hasty as Honeck expects alert playing of precision. Throughout Honeck obtains a committed response from his players that inspires the listener and creates a sense of awe. The sound of the sonorous Pittsburgh brass gleams, especially splendid are the Bruckner tubas, together with such fruity sounding woodwind while the string tone has a golden hue.
Under Honeck the opening movement with the tempo marking Allegro moderato is tellingly performed by the Pittsburgh players who relish the expansive quality of such commanding writing. Richard Wagner had been in failing health with serious heart problems for some time. Bruckner likely wrote his second movement as an elegy in expectation of Wagner’s death. Marked Sehr feierlich und sehr langsam the predominant mood of deep sorrow and yearning contrasts strikingly with music of compelling positivity. Here Bruckner uses Wagner tubas for the first time in a symphony.
Marked Sehr schnell the third movement Scherzo under Honeck evokes running free and briskly in the great outdoors, likely the Alpine ranges. Here Bruckner flecks the score with various bird and animal calls. As the thunderous and weighty Scherzo rhythms are becoming overwhelming, we quickly hear the generosity of the central trio section that suggests to me one of Austrian painter Johann Nepomuk Schödlberger’s arcadian landscapes. Making a real impact is the Finale marked Bewegt, doch nicht schnell with Honeck and his Pittsburgh players adeptly journeying through the complicated rhythms of multiple peaks and significant drama, leading to a thrilling conclusion.
There are numerous recordings of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 the best of which Honeck can match or better. A couple of recordings that I personally favour are conducted by Gerd Schaller and by Christian Thielemann. From 2008 Gerd Schaller conducts the Bruckner Symphony No. 7 with the Philharmonie Festiva live at Ebrach Abbey, Bavaria. Using the 1885 version, edited by Nowak (1954) Schaller attains great nobility in a performance that leaves a powerful effect. Part of a 4 CD set released on the Profil Hänssler label the couplings are Symphony No. 4 ‘Romantic’ (1878/1880 version) and Symphony No. 9 (Finale, completed by Carragan 2010, revised version, ed. Nowak) (review).
In 2012 Christian Thielemann marked his inaugural year with the Staatskapelle Dresden with performances of Bruckner Symphony No. 7. Recorded live at Semperoper, Thielemann and the Staatskapelle achieve an account of considerable impact. Conveying qualities such as love, generosity and compassion the Adagio I feel embodies a special sense of the humane. Thielemann uses the 1885 original version, edited by Haas (1944) a double set released on Profil Hänssler. The coupling is Wagner’s Das Liebesmahl der Apostel a biblical scene for multiple male choruses and orchestra, a work rarely heard due to the massive forces required (review).
Mason Bates wrote his Resurrexit for orchestra in 2018 a commission by the Pittsburgh Symphony to mark Manfred Honeck’s sixtieth birthday. Here Honeck is conducting the premiere recording of Resurrexit live from the Heinz Hall, Pittsburgh. Bates has chosen not to use the conventional large-scale, biblical choral setting of the Resurrexit (Resurrection). Instead, Bates has elected to write an orchestral-only score that creates an absorbing soundworld. The writing exploits a remarkably bold and dynamic forward momentum that at times evokes a sense of regeneration.
Released by Reference Recordings as part of its ‘Fresh!’ series the Bruckner and Bates works were recorded in live concert at the Heinz Hall, Pittsburgh. Recorded by the Soundmirror team of Boston this hybrid SACD, played on my standard unit, has first-rate sound with notable clarity and satisfying balance. There is virtually no unwanted noise on the recording and applause at the conclusion of each work has been removed.
Manfred Honeck and his Pittsburgh orchestra come up trumps in Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 and I enjoyed hearing Mason Bates’ Resurrexit.
Michael Cookson
Previous reviews: Ralph Moore (August 2024 Recording of the Month) ~ John Quinn (September 2024) ~ Kelvin Chan (October 2024)
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