Search - Anton Bruckner, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Philadelphia Orchestra :: Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 'Romantische'

Homage to Wagner

Charles Emmett | Oroville, California (the boonies) | 06/15/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Knowing that Bruckner was enthralled by the music of Wagner I, somehow, had not realized the musical references in other performances. I have had several recordings of this wonderful symphony over the years and have three currently; Ormandy's, Muti's with the BPO and now this one.I had to wait over six months to get it but was it ever worth the wait. This is only one of a few recordings that I have ever received that I had goose-bumps throughout the whole recording-the most recent one being Muti and the PHO's reading of Mahler's 1st Symphony. (I got it at ARKIV Music, by the way).I should hope that Sawallisch, in being the PHO Conductor Laureate can team up to record the balance of the Bruckner Symphonies. If this is a prelude to the rest of his offerings sign me up now.This could be the most powereful recording of this piece I have ever heard. The orchestra is absolutly magnificent from the first bar to the last. The horns and the brass sections are awesome. The strings so luscious and powerful at the same time, not once being overpowered by the brass, which are mind blowing. The tone in the slow movement is to die for. You feel like you can reach out and feel the warm velvet. You touch its sensuosness and when the proper moment arrives the crescendoes are so powerful yet not overdone. Sawallisch builds up the finale of each movement so wonderfully and the sense of magesty is overwhelming and yet I hear Wagner for the first time. Forest murmers, a picnic during the hunt, and then a kind of march, an inexorable move toward a majestic positive climax.I recently recieved Ormandy's recording of Bruckner's fifth which is also magnificently interpreted and played.Thank you, Amazon.com, for not letting me go without my Bruckner.What a treat. I recommend this in the highest way."

Sawallisch knows his Bruckner

Bruce Hodges | New York, NY | 08/10/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"About three years ago, I was able to catch Wolfgang Sawallisch do this very work live in Philadelphia. A friend with me, who had never warmed up to Bruckner, was astonished at the weight, gravity and feeling that bubbled up during the performance. Shortly afterward I bought this CD, and it is a pleasure to write that it captures much of the same energy of that performance.



Sawallisch does very well by Germanic composers such as Richard Strauss, Wagner, and Bruckner. Here he and the orchestra combine some flat-out beautiful playing with an unforced, natural phrasing and feel for the grand Brucknerian climaxes that are everywhere. The Philadelphia brass produces some thrilling moments, such as the horn calls that close the end of the first movement.



As one of Bruckner's most popular symphonies, there are many excellent recordings around, such as Haitink's classic with the Concertgebouw and Muti's surprisingly fine one with the Berlin Philharmonic (both now inexpensive). Abbado's version with the Vienna Philharmonic from the 1990s is an incredibly vibrant and muscular performance, too.



The sound here is excellent, recorded in Memorial Hall in Fairmount Park rather than in the Academy of Music, which does musicians no favors with its bone-dry acoustics. I would not hesitate to recommend this, and further, suspect that the composer might have loved Sawallisch's firm but gentle hand.

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