Album

Tired of the late-Romantic, pseudo-Wagnerian Bruckner of Karajan and Knapperstbusch? Exhausted by the post-Romantic, almost Mahlerian Bruckner of Abbado and Sinopoli? Try the proto-Modernist, nearly Schoenbergian Bruckner of Stanislaw Skrowaczewski and the Saarbrücken Radio Symphony. In a complete cycle of the symphonies from which this 2001 performance is taken, Skrowaczewski and the Saarbrücken started out somewhat more pseudo-Wagnerian, that is, their sonorities were lusher and their tone was more fervent, but by the time they got to the Ninth, their approach was tough, edgy, and even aggressive. Here, the Saarbrücken's playing is rough, almost raw in the opening "Feierlich"; brutal, almost savage in the central Scherzo; and hard, nearly harsh in the closing Adagio. Skrowaczewski, of course, is the cause of their change and his interpretation matches theirs in intensity and ferocity. His "Feierlich" is not so much built from stone as hewn from rock, his Scherzo is not so much driven as forced, and his Adagio has more of the terrors of hell than the serenity of heaven in it. Even those who might prefer pseudo-Wagnerian or almost Mahlerian to nearly Schoenbergian Bruckner will have to admit that Skrowaczewski and the Saarbrücken's performance is powerfully persuasive. Of course, those who want their Bruckner to sound like Bruckner, that is, like monumental cathedrals of sound dedicated to "the loving God," might find any of these approaches suspect, and for them, there are always the canonical Furtwängler and Jochum recordings. But for those who know their Bruckner, Skrowaczewski and the Saarbrücken's performance will present an interesting if not ultimately compelling alternative point of view. Oehms' sound is a tad reticent in the pianissimos and a bit boomy in the fortissimos, but just right the rest of the time.

© James Leonard, Rovi

CD 1
Anton Bruckner Composer Symphony No.9 in D-, WAB109 ('Unfinished') Work 1:01:20 Stanislaw Skrowaczewski Conductor, Saarbrucken Radio Symphony Orchestra Orchestra
1	1.Feierlich, misterioso	23:25			$3.99
2	2.Scherzo: Bewegt, lebhaft	10:09			$1.99
3	3.Adagio: Langsam, feierlich	27:46			$3.99