|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
67.188.250.219
In Reply to: RE: I had the misfortune ... posted by Amphissa on July 06, 2012 at 15:49:09
My wife lumps him in with Berlioz in the "blaring brass" category, and so, consequently, can't stand his symphonies at all (although she DOES like his choral music for some reason - no blaring brass, I guess!). ;-)
Follow Ups:
She likes the 7th and 8th as well. Not so much the earlier symphonies.She once commented, if Jimi Hendrix had been a classical composer in the 1800s, he would have composed music like the Scherzo of Bruckner 9.
Celibidache's Bruckner is a curiosity. I liked hearing his interpretations, because they were so slow and dragged out that:
(1) you could hear a lot of the inner workings of the symphony.
(2) the musicians must have trained for years to play at the slug-like pace imposed by Celibidache. What a testament to endurance and control.
That said, twice was all I could stand of it -- which is how I feel about 90% of Celibidache's Munich recordings. It was almost like a novelty act. I think I have never heard anything as dreadful as Celibidache's Sheherazade. I could just picture Rimsky-Korsakov jumping up on stage, giving Celibidache a sound kick in the butt, and yelling "Get on with it, man!"
My wife is "take it or leave it" with Berlioz, but likes a good performance of Symphony fantastique well enough.
"Life without music is a mistake" (Nietzsche)
Edits: 07/08/12 07/08/12
"(1) you could hear a lot of the inner workings of the symphony."
To me, this is a major element of what distinguishes a good Bruckner performance from the rest.............
If Bruckner had intended the 2nd movement of his 9th to be played at an adagio tempo, he would have designated it as an adagio rather than a scherzo. It's interesting to hear the part play of the trio, but the it is the uptempo pace of the trio that makes it so wonderfully different.
For me, it's like looking at a clear model of a high performance engine so I can see how all the parts work. But it is the experience of riding in it at the intended speed that gets the blood up!
"Life without music is a mistake" (Nietzsche)
"My wife lumps him in with Berlioz in the 'blaring brass' category, and so, consequently, can't stand his symphonies at all"Of all the composers I've taken a liking to, Bruckner may have had the longest learning curve of all...... With a LOT of frustration along that journey. (At times, I almost gave up on this composer.) But I think I was fortunate to hear a few performances that made me realize that Bruckner was a lot more than what I once thought was merely "practice drills for orchestra"..........
I once had a total misunderstanding of Bruckner........ At first I thought "volume in the brass" was what this composer was all about...... Until maybe a year ago, discovering Sergiu Celibidache and came to the realization that melodic lyricism is what makes this composer interesting....... Dynamic control throughout the entire orchestra enables the intoxicating harmonic flavors to be heard, along with the main melodies, helping the listener better understand the composer's intentions........ When those harmonic flavors are heard and played in a lyrical manner, the music takes on a totally different character.
And often "blaring brass", which initially sounds impressive with Bruckner, is the most common failing in regard to obscuring these intoxicating harmonies. (In such cases, the music becomes "monotone" in character. The very Bruckner that strikes people cold.) The brass dynamics must be in control for this music to sing. Loud is OK, but as long as the sections are balanced and dynamics are disciplined.
Another common failing with Bruckner is loss of sustained melodic/harmonic lines, which can also obscure the harmonic palette. The musicians need to play with a lot of discipline. The music done well often takes on the character of a "solemn religious hymn"- The brass almost sounds like a pipe organ, the strings almost sound like a "choir".
Only few conductors do it for me with Bruckner....... My three favorites are Celibidache, Gunter Wand, and Herbert Blomstedt.
Edits: 07/06/12
I've got a Bruk 4th I like, but most I've heard is SO 4-square, a phrase, repeat, and so on , it's predictable and boring.
I remember one thing that so impressed me when I saw Celibidache and the Munich Philharmonic do Bruckner's Fourth live (Celibidache's notorious 80-minute Bruckner Fourth!), was that he had somehow mesmerized the players in the orchestra so that they were all pulling in the same interpretive direction at once. IOW, they knew the goals of the interpretation and how their individual contributions fit in and contributed to the overall success and emotional effect of the performance. I've never had this sensation so overwhelmingly in any other live performance I've attended. I also remember Celibidache's reported comments during the rehearsals at Davies Hall for this performance: at the end of the rehearsal, he told the players to look around the hall and then commented, "Anyone who would build a hall like this doesn't care very much about music!" ;-)
I think you might like this one, it's Bruckner's piano music. The adapted Adagio from Symphony 7 is great and the other pieces are interesting in a Brucknerish way:
. . . such as the Mahler arrangement of the Third Symphony for two pianos:
Of course, in my wife's case, she refuses even to read though the piano four-hand arrangements of the Bruckner symphonies. Maybe she's been traumatized by the "blaring brass". ;-)
I'm thus reduced to bombing my way through the solo piano arrangements of the symphonies (such as Stradal's of the Eighth), but the texture is often too thick to fit everything into just ten fingers!
Post a Followup:
FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: