Bruckner's Abbey

[Cato]

The Bruckner Journal's latest issue is now available:

https://www.brucknerjournal.com/Issues/currentissue

In it there is a review of a Vienna Philharmonic Bruckner-Berg concert, where the Ninth Symphony was played with Berg's Three Pieces for Orchestra "without an intermission."

I found that intriguing: did the conductor (Franz Welser-Möst) use the Berg work as a quasi-Finale?

Well, sort of!

Here is an excerpt of a review different from the one in The Bruckner Journal:

...Only after the final notes of the symphony sounded (i.e. of the Adagio), did (Franz) Welser-Möst's intentions in pairing the Bruckner and Berg become clear. The conductor did not turn to acknowledge the applause, but rather stood still facing the orchestra. The Berg would serve, if not as a substitute for the unfinished fourth movement, as a coda which jettisoned the audience into the future. Which for music was the Second Viennese School, of which Welser-Möst asserts that Berg was perhaps its greatest genius....

...Welser-Möst drew eerie, transparent sound from the orchestra in the second piece ,which Berg entitled "Reigen." The dance-like music which emerged, often described as "demented," would later serve as the starting point of the Inn Scene in Wozzeck. For all of its strangeness, conductor and orchestra played the strains of waltzes and Ländler with a lightness that only added to the sense of disorientation.

In the concluding Marsch, Welser-Möst unleashed the full fury of the orchestra. The emotional intensity of the playing climaxed in terrifying strokes of sound which resounded throughout the hall. As the sound of glockenspiel, celesta, and harp faded in the final measures, one sensed only despair, not the hopes of salvation with which the Bruckner had ended....

 

By Rick Perdian of The New York Classical Review: check out the 3 comments at the end.

https://newyorkclassicalreview.com/2024/03/vienna-philharmonic-explores-seeds-of-weimar-with-bruckner-and-berg/

[Cato]

News from The Cleveland Orchestra about a new Bruckner Symphony #4.

"he Cleveland Orchestra will release a new audio recording of Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 4 led by Music Director Franz Welser-Möst on August 16 as it prepares to perform the work on tour in Europe later this summer.

The recording will be available worldwide for digital streaming and download in spatial audio on all major platforms. A sample track (III. Scherzo: Bewegt) will be released on July 26.

The release of Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 is just one way The Cleveland Orchestra is commemorating the composer's bicentennial. On August 20, the Orchestra premieres Bruckner's Fourth on its digital streaming platform, Adella, in a new video production featuring an interview with Welser-Möst discussing the work and the composer. "

https://www.broadwayworld.com/cleveland/article/The-Cleveland-Orchestra-to-Celebrate-200th-Anniversary-of-Anton-Bruckners-Birth-with-Symphony-No-4-20240724

[LKB]

News from The Cleveland Orchestra about a new Bruckner Symphony #4.



https://www.broadwayworld.com/cleveland/article/The-Cleveland-Orchestra-to-Celebrate-200th-Anniversary-of-Anton-Bruckners-Birth-with-Symphony-No-4-20240724

I hate having to say this, but I recently viewed the video of a live B4 with the forces above and wasn't very impressed with the playing. Hopefully Cleveland was simply having an off-night, because they were most definitely not living up to their " Big Five " reputation. 

[Cato]

I hate having to say this, but I recently viewed the video of a live B4 with the forces above and wasn't very impressed with the playing. Hopefully Cleveland was simply having an off-night, because they were most definitely not living up to their " Big Five " reputation. 

Oh my!  Well, we shall see what happens with the above!

[Cato]

Recommended by another Bruckner site:


Michael Gielen and the Bruckner Symphony I:

[lordlance]

Recommended by another Bruckner site:


Michael Gielen and the Bruckner Symphony I:

How was it? 

[ultralinear]

I hate having to say this, but I recently viewed the video of a live B4 with the forces above and wasn't very impressed with the playing. Hopefully Cleveland was simply having an off-night, because they were most definitely not living up to their " Big Five " reputation. 

Some years ago I saw Welser-Möst conduct the Cleveland Orchestra in Bruckner 9, and it was ... OK.  I guess.  The orchestra played superbly - the brass particularly - but overall it was just kinda ... nothing.  I mean, it was Bruckner's 9th Symphony, delivered accurately - can't argue with that - but ... but ... 

Next night I saw them deliver the most forgettable Mahler's Resurrection Symphony I've ever heard.  (And I've heard a few. )  Again, you couldn't point at any one thing and say That's what's wrong with it - it was just - nothing.  Even as it was still going on, I found myself thinking What is this piece of music again?  Sounds kinda familiar ... 

[(poco) Sforzando]

Some years ago I saw Welser-Möst conduct the Cleveland Orchestra in Bruckner 9, and it was ... OK.  I guess.  The orchestra played superbly - the brass particularly - but overall it was just kinda ... nothing.  I mean, it was Bruckner's 9th Symphony, delivered accurately - can't argue with that - but ... but ... 

Next night I saw them deliver the most forgettable Mahler's Resurrection Symphony I've ever heard.  (And I've heard a few. )  Again, you couldn't point at any one thing and say That's what's wrong with it - it was just - nothing.  Even as it was still going on, I found myself thinking What is this piece of music again?  Sounds kinda familiar ... 

Sounds like he's Welser-Least.

[Cato]

Sounds like he's Welser-Least.

That could be! 

WE have not been to one of their concerts yet under his baton.  An acquaintance has said that Welser-Möst was rather bland in his interpretations.

[Conrad Veidt fan]

I love Dr. John McWhorter (Columbia) and his description of the music of Bruckner:  "a dense, grandiloquent crawl"!

[AnotherSpin]

I love Dr. John McWhorter (Columbia) and his description of the music of Bruckner:  "a dense, grandiloquent crawl"!

Who is Dr. John McWhorter and why is his statement relevant?

[Brian]

Who is Dr. John McWhorter and why is his statement relevant?

What does it need to be relevant to? Conrad Veidt Fan is a new member. Welcome CVF!

[AnotherSpin]

What does it need to be relevant to? Conrad Veidt Fan is a new member. Welcome CVF!

I don't quite understand your difficulty. Someone comes to a thread about Bruckner and declares his love for someone and quotes a not very favourable phrase from that someone about Bruckner. Don't you wonder what that means?

[Daverz]

I love Dr. John McWhorter (Columbia) and his description of the music of Bruckner:  "a dense, grandiloquent crawl"!

McWhorter is a clown, has been for decades. 

[Brian]

I don't quite understand your difficulty. Someone comes to a thread about Bruckner and declares his love for someone and quotes a not very favourable phrase from that someone about Bruckner. Don't you wonder what that means?

Although I do not like or respect McWhorter*, I also do not see the phrase as necessarily insulting!

*a linguistics professor who is also outspoken about his belief that black people in the US are largely to blame for their own lower economic status because they "play victims" rather than adapting to white culture

[DavidW]

What does it need to be relevant to? Conrad Veidt Fan is a new member. Welcome CVF!

@Conrad Veidt fan is the poster that recommended that amazing K. Petrenko Tchaikovsky 6 that I now love! He posts something extraordinary, refuses to elaborate, and then leaves.

[AnotherSpin]

Although I do not like or respect McWhorter*, I also do not see the phrase as necessarily insulting!

*a linguistics professor who is also outspoken about his belief that black people in the US are largely to blame for their own lower economic status because they "play victims" rather than adapting to white culture

I didn't find that phrase insulting, rather plain silly.

[ultralinear]

Some years ago I saw Welser-Möst conduct the Cleveland Orchestra in Bruckner 9, and it was ... OK.  I guess.  The orchestra played superbly - the brass particularly - but overall it was just kinda ... nothing.  I mean, it was Bruckner's 9th Symphony, delivered accurately - can't argue with that - but ... but ... 

Next night I saw them deliver the most forgettable Mahler's Resurrection Symphony I've ever heard.  (And I've heard a few. )  Again, you couldn't point at any one thing and say That's what's wrong with it - it was just - nothing.  Even as it was still going on, I found myself thinking What is this piece of music again?  Sounds kinda familiar ... 

To redress the balance, one of the outstanding experiences of my concert-going career (spanning many decades) was a recent performance of the 9th by the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Manfred Honeck.  It was like hearing it again for the very first time - I was on the edge of my seat throughout.  Just wonderful.

[Roasted Swan]

To redress the balance, one of the outstanding experiences of my concert-going career (spanning many decades) was a recent performance of the 9th by the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Manfred Honeck.  It was like hearing it again for the very first time - I was on the edge of my seat throughout.  Just wonderful.

My sense is that Honeck is one of the most interesting convention challenging conductors around with the technique and musical intelligence to back it up.

[Conrad Veidt fan]

@Conrad Veidt fan is the poster that recommended that amazing K. Petrenko Tchaikovsky 6 that I now love! He posts something extraordinary, refuses to elaborate, and then leaves.

I'll contribute when I have something further to offer.  I see that people have taken offence with Dr. McWhorter himself rather than his comments.  He's a very bright Linguist from Columbia University whose other speciality is music.