BRUCKNER
Symphonies - No.7 in E (Haas/Nowak), No.8 in C minor (1890 version
edited Nowak) & No.9 in D minor;
SCHUBERT
Symphony No.
5
Stuttgart Radio Symphony
Orchestra/Sergiu
Celibidache
DG 445 471-2 (4 CDs
+ bonus CD of rehearsals of Bruckner 7 & 8) [237'28" + 40'48"
rehearsal]
Crotchet
£49.95
Amazon
UK £55.99
Amazon
USA $58.87
Even Celibidache's detractors acknowledge his greatness in Bruckner. These
1970s live performances (without applause) may have conventional timings
- not though their counterparts in EMI's box
- but there's nothing ordinary about them. The greatest performance here
is the 1976 8th Symphony. This is in a league by itself, much preferable
to Celi's "beached whale" from EMI (fascinating though that is). Celi's
painstaking preparation reveals Bruckner's breathing expression, the conductor's
fastidiousness regarding colour creating an extraordinary cathedral of sound
(to re-use a description I coined for EMI's set and which seems particularly
apt).
Frankly, when at his greatest, as here, no other conductor quite matches
Celi's musical illumination (and not only in Bruckner). He understands and
balances Bruckner's fervour and meditation while viewing Bruckner's vast
design and expressive vision as an entity - and everything this great conductor
achieves has a musical foundation. Quite how Celi suggests, in the
violins, glints of light shining through stained-glass windows I don't know
(but he does), but I do know how he obtains such a committed response from
his musicians. He puts the responsibility of playing back on them, not by
instruction, but by guiding each player to listen to colleagues and correlate
parts, his guidance administered within the acoustical parameters of respective
instruments and the space being played in - to make them even better musicians
if you will. I'm not being fanciful; this is what orchestral musicians who
played for him have told me. Listen in the slow movement between 12'24" -14'41"
where the woodwind playing is so emotional: from 12'55" the clarinet player,
then oboist, invest their solos with so much understanding of what and why
they are playing; then the strings find an almost unbearable expressive
dimension. This is sublime music-making combining the intimacy of chamber-music
and an infinite world of declaration - musicians corporately bearing Bruckner's
soul, inspired by Celi's strictures.
If you listen as I do, it's not just the final performance you'll hear, you'll
also appreciate the painstaking preparation of many hours' work. Being alive
to the science isn't mandatory (but it helps!) because ultimately Celi's
Eighth is a miracle of sound and harmony - Bruckner's world as he expressed
it in music. Although notorious (to those who don't understand) as a slow-tempo
conductor, Celi's movement-timings in this Eighth of 16, 14, 27 and 26 minutes
can be matched by other conductors. It's the all-encompassing involvement
of the performers, and Celi's care over balance and the details of Bruckner's
score, which compels and distinguishes. It's also the humanity with which
Celi shapes episodes - but without indulging them: nothing is allowed to
spoil the whole, yet everything is comprehensively stated and sounded. I
could mention the perfect balance between horn and violins - equal voicing
- from 1'49" in the Finale. Or, from 4'14", that the flute and clarinet
arabesques are no mere decoration but an integral and vital part of the totality.
I could single out the flute `heartbeats' at 22'56" that seem so significant
here. If Celi, unfortunately, changes clarinet to bassoon a few bars into
the first movement and closes same with a slight ritenuto (how telling the
"death-clock " is if it stops in tempo) he compensates with a monumental
Finale coda (from 23'14") in which, at 25'13", the violins are wonderfully
clear against tumultuous brass. This is one of the greatest Bruckner 8s you
will ever hear.
Coupled with it is an equally wonderful Schubert 5 from 1979. Schubert is
not an essential composer for me (much as I love certain works) and I tend
to find that if he's played too literally then his shortcomings - structural
flaccidity and rhythmic repetitiveness - are underlined. Not though Celibidache
who never reduces Schubert's outer movements to sewing-machine efficiency
as some others have done. Although Celi keeps these movements moving (neither
repeat observed), he fashions such a wealth of colour, subtle dynamics and
buoyant rhythms, that a careful listener is fully absorbed. The slow movement
really couldn't be more lyrical or sensitively phrased. If the proportions
of the symphony as a whole are misaligned (12 ½ minutes for the Andante
con moto against 15 ½ minutes for the other three together) it's Celi's
variety of expression that wins the day.
I'm not so sure about Bruckner 7 and 9. Incidentally, anyone with an "Artists
Live Recordings" CD, FED 011, has a Celi Bruckner 7 from 26 October 1971
(so claims the cover). It's the same performance as DG's who nominate 8 June
1971 - Celi's debut concert with the SRSO, which initiated their 10-year
relationship. DG is probably correct, but was there a later performance in
October that has been used here? Both CDs are missing the Finale's opening
second-violins' tremolo - although do my ears detect some electronic faking
of them on DG (not though the `clunk' of the tape starting a critical second
too late!)? My reservations about No.7 concern not the lightness of sound
or clarity of lines (both pre-requisites for the Seventh) but an ambiguity
of the Symphony's scale. Celi added considerably to his overall timing when
he got to Munich (EMI) but my view of both performances focuses on two
interpretative discrepancies. The first is his opting for Haas's quieter
dynamics while including Nowak's unnecessary cymbal clash at the Adagio's
climax; the second is his creation of a transparent sound that doesn't always
complement his spacious, sometimes majestic traversal of the whole. That
said, the very opening doesn't so much start as we become conscious of its
existence. We are drawn in by the subtlest of crescendos (from virtually
inaudible to slightly less inaudible!) and an equally subtle intensification
of tone. There are, of course, many other wonderful moments but I don't find
this Seventh wholly convincing - though I wouldn't be without it.
Nor would I be without this Ninth. I haven't done any direct comparisons
with the EMI performance - each Celi performance creates its own,
non-transferrable, cosmos. My memory of Celi's 77-minute rendition (on DG
he takes 58) was that it didn't seem a second too long. His 1974 Stuttgart
reading has a wondrous balance but is a little circumspect about revealing
Bruckner's inner angst. Celi teaches us so much about Bruckner's orchestration
and his harmonic perception of the impending twentieth-century; also how
a conductor can pertinently unfold the first movement's lengthy exposition
without getting lost - but something personal to Bruckner is missing despite
Celi often moving this movement forward to thrilling effect. The scherzo
is certainly not a blaze of ill-digested noise (as this movement can be allowed
to degenerate to) but it's not as violent as might be wished; I would have
liked more devilish hobgoblins in the trio - Celi presents a slightly twitchy
Mendelssohn! The concluding Adagio is both anticipatory of the next life
and serene in its leave-taking; and although Celi builds the most painful
of final climaxes, the dissonant breaking-point is a little too soft, and
slightly lost by the recording.
Generally the sound is excellent, clean-textured and dynamically wide-ranging.
Just occasionally it's a bit fierce and bass-occluded. Dedicated Brucknerians
and Celibidachians won't (and shouldn't) hesitate. More general collectors
should go straight for the fabulous Bruckner 8/Schubert 5 on 445 473-2 (2
CDs)
Crotchet
which can be bought separately.
Reviewer
Colin Anderson
Bruckner 8, Schubert 5
Bruckner 7 & 9
Sound quality
