Search - Anton Bruckner, Kent Nagano, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin :: Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 6

Bruckner's too-long-neglected Sixth Symphony is revealed as the wonderful work it is in this fine reading by Nagano and his Berlin band. The orchestra may not have the reputation of its neighbors of the Philharmonic, but on this disc it plays with lustrous strings and biting brass. Nagano obviously loves this work. But he never smothers it with affection, instead rendering it with apt tempos and clarity of textures and details. He manages Bruckner's transitions well, largely avoiding the pauses that can make the music a stop-and-go affair, and he elicits world-class playing from the orchestra. Nagano's phrasing has a naturalness not always evident in many Bruckner performances, and he's masterful in bringing out various musical strands sometimes buried in the composer's massive orchestration. In this he's helped by the transparent sonics that capture the delicacy of much of Bruckner's score without compromising the weight of the climaxes. All in all, this is one of the finest modern recordings of the work. --Dan Davis