Search - Anton Bruckner, Hans Rosbaud, Southwest German Radio Symphony Orch. :: Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 in E Major

Truly indispensable legendary recording

SwissDave | Switzerland | 05/03/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Although it says "1959" on the back cover, this can only be a reissue of the Vox Turnabout recording from 27 & 30 December 1957 (to my knowledge, there is no other by Rosbaud), one of the finest if not the finest interpretation of Bruckner's 7th ever (Haas edition, by the way). Mind you, it's not old-fashioned but sounds as if newly-minted: modern and lithe, yet not without due weight. It may not convey the religious zealousness of Giulini's studio (1986 DG) and live (1982 BBC Legends) versions, but it brings out all the inner logic of the score in a way that truly baffles - what Rosbaud does all seems so simple and sounds so right.



I have minor issues with the sound quality, however. One only hears some instability to the generally well-balanced stereo on e.g. headphones (on electrostatic earphones with their dedicated single-ended tube amp, this sounds detailed and colourful). On reference quality/studio equipment it becomes apparent that someone, most likely the recording engineers themselves, ceaselessly tampered with the balance (hard to believe this could be due to the remastering - but then, I have never heard the Vox Turnabout original). Admittedly, this is from the era we think of as the birth of stereo recording today (even if true only for commercial recording), but sound pressure so heavily veers to the left sometimes, then suddenly all is set set right again and real stereo spread and soundstage depth returns, one wonders if someone fell asleep at the controls or a microphone got intermittently unplugged or turned off by mistake (turning up and down of controls certainly seems rushed, and all too often delayed). The unstable wind player placement seems like a comparatively minor problem. Maybe the sudden changes in balance/sound pressure are due to tape splices - if so, the interpretation does not sound like it, on the contrary, it comes across as one organic whole. All in all, these sonic imperfections are a small price to pay given the excellence of the performance.



To put it another way, Rosbaud was one of the handful greatest Bruckner conductors and this legendary recording is indispensable. At this price, one easily could afford to get some modern DDD version in addition - but then, the force of the interpretation here is such that it should teach anyone to condone sonic flaws (negligible in view of many other historic recordings, and no big deal at all on standard equipment, let alone an iPod or other such device). You may well find yourself reaching for this one more often than any other version in spite of those sonic flaws - don't say you haven't been warned!



[IMPORTANT UPDATE: Do as Jeff Lipscomb suggests (see comments below) and get the ZYX reissue instead (even if you can only get the complete Bruckner box set, no matter, it's worth it - I put a short review with a content list there, as there was none). The ZYX remastering's sound quality (almost) equals that of a modern recording, true stereo spread and spatiality, the problems alluded to above (the veering to the left) all gone: Rosbaud's Bruckner 7 in much better than acceptable, even very good sound = BLISS!!]



Greetings from Switzerland, David."