Search - Anton Bruckner, Claudio Abbado, Wiener Philharmoniker :: Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 - Wiener Philharmoniker / Claudio Abbado

Such a pity...

Daniel M. Forman | San Francisco, CA United States | 08/12/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"As a great fan of Bruckner, and particularly of his 9th symphony, I try to listen to every recording I come across. Having checked this out from the library, I can say that I am VERY glad I didn't actually pay anything for it.



The orchestra is sonically magnificent. Unfortunately, they are rarely together. The coordination is simply not there.



Abbado, who has at times done such a beautiful job with Bruckner, is painfully metronomical here, making this most emotional and beautiful symphony sound as though it is meant to represent a machine. His interpretation is stiff and stilted. He does not begin to approach the revelatory interpretation given to this fine work by Tintner (despite his use of a lesser orchestra), nor even the mediocrity of the recording by Haitink with the Concertbegouw.



This recording is immensely frustrating, becase throughout the piece, the great potential is palpable: the orchestra comes SO close to true beauty, but never manages to become transcendent.



I would almost kill for a recording of Tintner in front of this great orchestra, but, sadly, this recording falls far, far short of that."

Cushiony Bruckner without many events

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 11/28/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Abbado is capable of much more dramatic and less wayward Bruckner than this live 1996 performance would indicate. The Gramophone reviewer flt that Abbado wasn't structuring a coherent performance but merely giving us one phrase after anothr, with scattered ideas about this or that effect. I heard him with the Berlin Phil. several years ago in the Bruckner Ninth and don't remember anything this bland. Tempos are regular, phrases aren't allowed to bloom, climaxes come and go without making a cumulative effect. The Vienna Phil. plays beautifully, even though the musicians are kept sadly in bounds. I suppose Abbado just hears this piece in his head with many small events and no major ones."