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Anton BRUCKNER (1824-1896)
Symphony No. 7 in E major (1883)[70:03]
Orchestre Metropolitain
du Grand Montréal/Yannick Nézet-Séguin
rec. September 2006, Église Saint-Nom-de-Jésus, Montréal ATMA CLASSIQUE SACD22512 [70:03]
The
Leipzig premiere, of the Symphony No. 7, conducted by Artur
Nikisch, was perhaps Bruckner's greatest triumph. It was soon
followed by other performances, among which the composer particularly
admired the interpretation of Hermann Levi at Munich. Given
these successes, he therefore did not feel inclined to make
any alterations. Indeed the only musicological issue concerns
whether or not there should be a cymbal clash at the climax
of the slow movement. Doubt remains as to the authenticity
of this, and the decision remains the with the conductor.
Yannick
Nézet-Séguin directs a dedicated performance, with sensitive
awareness of Bruckner’s idiom and musical characteristics.
For example, in the first movement he and the recording engineers
succeed in capturing the music’s inexorable sense of growth,
particularly out of atmospheric beginnings. The opening theme
emerges as a supremely lyrical span, while also containing
fragmentary motifs which are used more dramatically in due
course for the purposes of development. As the music proceeds,
some tremendous climaxes are generated, leading in turn to
a third subject, in which there is a more angular rhythmic
outline. Much of this rhythmic activity actually derives from
inversions of the opening theme; and after the extended development
section, the two versions can be heard simultaneously. Everything
in this large-scale structure relates to these three subject
groups, and Nézet-Seguin reveals himself as a Bruckner conductor
of sensibility and vision, commanding dedicated orchestral
playing.
Bruckner
modelled his slow movement on that of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony,
by alternating two important themes. The first is a sombre
elegy on Wagner tubas (hybrid instruments half-way between
horn and bass tuba) with a pendant for strings, the other a
flowing theme played by the violins. The music develops impressively
in this performance, ultimately reaching a climax replete with
the cymbal clash that many Brucknerians regard as ‘not valid’.
In fact this one is most tastefully accommodated, without much
sense of theatre. As a point of focus it works rather well,
but some listeners will have little truck with it, even if
a majority of conductors, from Jochum to Rattle, choose to
include it. That doyen of Bruckner conductors Günter Wand,
offers resplendent orchestral texture that needs no additional
percussion in order to make the climax of this movement (RCA 74321687162).
Some
of the most remarkable music in Bruckner’s output occurs as
coda to this movement, the afterthought that he described as ‘the
funeral music for the master’. He wrote this in 1883 on receiving
the news of Wagner's death, making sensitive deployment of
the dark and rich tones of Wagner tubas. Nézet-Séguin’s performance
is beautifully recorded and has a sensitive grandeur wholly
in keeping with the original intention.
The
scherzo is a concise structure which grows out of short motifs.
While the basic pulse is set by the strings it is the trumpet
who leads the orchestra, and he is on top form here. The truthful
sound and warm acoustic add the effect. For the purposes of
unity the finale recalls the music of the first movement, from
which source its opening theme surely derives. The rhythmic
vigour indicates a restless mood, while the second theme has
the nature of a chorale, scored for strings above a pizzicato
bass, and followed by a contrasting wind interlude. Perhaps
the tempo set by Nézet-Séguin is on the fast side, making the
musical material seem a shade peremptory. Certainly Wand seems
to achieve a more spontaneous and natural flow, while in either
performance Bruckner’s development section generates the tensions
that are resolved when the initial theme of the first movement
returns. This has the satisfying purpose of confirming the
unity of the whole conception.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin directs a dedicated
performance, with sensitive awareness of Bruckner’s idiom and
musical characteristics.
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