"Eugene Jochum is probably the greatest exponent of Bruckner's music of all time. He made numerous recordings of the symphonies, and made classic recordings of the choral works as well.
This box contains the classic Jochum-Bruckner cycle, now incarnated in DG's attractive Collectors Series. It was the first complete cycle, recorded in stereo during the late fifties and early sixties. Jochum used two orchestras for this project: Berlin Philharmonic and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Jochum recorded later a cycle for EMI, with Staatskapelle Dresden. That cycle has clearly also its merits, but it has not the classic status of the DG set. Moreover, the DG performances provide a "sense of discovery." So it is not an exaggeration to say that this set is a must have. Indeed, if you just want one set with Bruckner's symphonies - a set that will stand the test of time - this is probably the one to grab.
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Vivid Bruckner
A. Pfeffer | San Marcos, CA USA | 02/25/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Like the previous reviewer, Mr. Modee, I regard this DG set as the "classic" statement of Bruckner on disc and prefer it to Jochum's later EMI set for its "purer" style, finer orchestral execution, and leaner sound. What makes Jochum's Bruckner "classic" is its inspirational, personal, and spontaneous quality. It always sounds right. Jochum is not afraid to vary tempos and emphasize attacks to suit the mood of the moment while preserving forward motion and structural cohesion. His Bruckner is the antithesis of the single-tempo, ultra-slow, monumental Bruckner represented, for example, by the absurdly over-rated George Tintner on Naxos. With Tintner, a Bruckner symphony sounds as if it will never end; with Jochum you don't want it to."
Jochum Set a Welcome Addition to My Collection
K. J. Wasniewski | Chicago, IL USA | 05/16/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I was happy to acquire the Bruckner/Jochum cycle many years after having owned Bruckner's 7th & 8th on a 3-cassette(!) DG set during my college days. This was where I first heard these two symphonies and grew to love them. So there is some nostalgia here for me. Hearing these once again felt a little like a home-coming. Thanks to Amazon, I was able to acquire this set on an amazing deal.
I am not going to debate the other reviewers' opinions on the merits or shortcomings of this set versus others. I have the Solti/CSO set, the Inbal set with the original versions of several symphonies, as well as some of Barenboim's, Boulez's, Chailly's, and Karajan's, not to mention Klemperer's recording of the 6th, which continues to be re-issued. While some of the pure digital recordings may have sonics that surpass this set, the performances and the warmth of that late 50's/early 60's sound will surely prove enjoyable. (I am writing this not having heard all nine symphonies yet.)
The compact packaging of envelope-clad 9 CDs in a simple cardboard box (with a booklet) avoids the risk of hearing your CDs bouncing and scraping in the jewel box set upon shipment, so there is less anxiety about receiving a scratched CD and wondering whether it will play.
One of the features of this set that I appreciated was the booklet. It features Jochum's own essay on performing the symphonies, which I found insightful. Too seldom do the conductors these days take the time to document their intent and approach for us listeners. This essay reinforced for me that this really was a body of work, not just a collection of nine recorded symphonies. There is another essay, examining the symphonies from a musical historical perspective.
For listeners looking to take the plunge on a Bruckner set, but without a lot of cash, this set is a good value. For serious Bruckner fans, this is the first full cycle recorded, and has never been out of the DG catalog; that certainly says something about it. Bruckner was not so much in vogue in the late 50's/early 60's, or so I have read, so these recordings may have had a hand in the revival that has put more Bruckner performances in concert halls today.
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IF YOU MUST HAVE A BOXED SET, THIS MIGHT BE IT
Mark E. Farrington | East Syracuse, NY | 04/23/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I am deeply suspicious of the "boxed set" mentality and boxed sets in general : more often than not, they result in "boxed set performances." That is, whether or not a given conductor-and-orchestra truly have an entire "cycle" of works in their bones, nevertheless "The Company (i.e., someone in Sales) wants to put out a complete boxed set; we've got, say, three more works to go before the cycle is finished; we have X number of allotted sessions, so let's get THROUGH them shall we." Even if the recordings are spread across the years (and often they are not), still, in those conditions, sense of occasion, discovery, or "special-ness" can go to the wall. (This renders Dorati's Hadyn cycle all the more amazing for being as good as it is.)
Regardless of any conductor's genius, the fact is that only the mediocre are equally good at everything- or all the works within a given cycle...Toscanini was revered as a Brahmsian, but he never quite got the hang of the 3rd Symphony...Kempe's Strauss cycle is essential, but his TOD UND VERKLARUNG, ZARATHUSTRA and HELDENLEBEN are, to put it kindly, somewhat anemic...Solti's Strauss operas are essential, except for his disastrous ARIADNE, where (for all the world as if he were conducting TRISTAN) he misses the irony, sense of fantasy and story-within-a-story and burns the music to a crisp...Most of Beecham's Mozart is treasurable, but he never bothered with the 33rd Symphony; his one commercial reading of the 29th has that notoriously slow first movement; and his ultra-slow EINE KLEINE NACHTMUSIK Finale is similarly plagued with an incompatibility with the work's other three movements...And, more to the point of this review, precious few Brucknerian conductors 'get' the 6th Symphony as well as they 'get' the 4th, 5th, and 7th through 9th ; Steinberg, Klemperer and Horenstein were the shining exceptions...I could go on and on, but you get the idea.
Now, outside of the RING and J.S. Bach's cyclical masterworks - such as the liturgically-linked Cantatas of the CHRISTMAS ORATORIO and "treatise" compilations such as THE WELL-TEMEPERED CLAVIER and THE ART OF THE FUGUE - most great music was not, in fact, composed in "cycles" - and almost never intended to be performed in "cycles." That being said, boxed sets can be a good, economical way to get to know a series of works - but they should almost never be the last word.
This is especially the case with Karajan, who could be extremely variable in terms of energy and sense of involvement. I only bring up "Herbie" because just enough reviewers have placed his DG Bruckner cycle in the same league as Jochum's. (I have also reviewed Haitink's early RCOA Bruckner cycle, but his approach is so different from Jochum's that I will not even try to "compare apples & oranges.") But as I have written elsewhere, when you record, re-record & re-re-record, year in and decade out (as HvK and Ormandy did), then no matter what your genius, you cannot possibly be at your best all - or even most of - the time. That is to say, there will be battles with Ennui, routine, or both. Happily, these culprits may be overcome - or simply outlived - but they WILL appear if you commit to grinding out 'product' like so many sausages. The best of HvK's earlier work is indeed great. (Think of his Philharmonia Beethoven cycle; his 1951 MEISTERSINGER, and his 1957 Berlin Bruckner 8th - still my favorite.) But by the mid-1960s, HvK had entered a blandly langorous, Pentultimate "Glossy" period in which legatoed beauty of sound tended to usurp all the other functions of music. (HvK's 1970s Beethoven cycle strikes me as a blatant example of "HvGloss" - so much so, that I have often suspected it of giving a good, hard, inadvertant "kick" to the Authenticist Movement.) Then, from about the time of the 1987 Viennese New Years Concert until his death in July 1989, Herbie seems to have retrieved his soul from wherever it had gone, and so his 1989 Bruckner 7th & 8th recapture something of his old magic and intensity - and in spectacular sound. Sadly, HvK's early 1970s Bruckner 4th & 7th tend to be marred by highly 'manipulated' mixing and multi-miking - resulting in an unnaturally lush, detailed sound (and not-so-detailed-at-that, on the LPs and earlier CD transfers). Of course, these date from his Blandly Langorous / Pentultimate / Glossy Period. (Strangely enough, his 1966 DG Bruckner 9th is excellent.)
Still, if you MUST have a boxed set of Bruckner symphonies, Jochum's DG box may just be the way to go. These performances are not as spectacularly recorded as HvK's, but Jochum seems to have a better grasp of structure and the inner contemplative core of Bruckner. The 1st is stupendous. The 2nd and 3rd strike me as less so, but this may spring from my admittedly inconsistent "textual" bias : I prefer the Haas versions of the 2nd and 8th (this box has the Novak edition of both), and ONLY the 1873 version of the 3rd. The 1877-78 3rd, and the 1889 3rd even more so, may indeed be more concise and "symmetrical" in an almost "Brahmsian" way, but they have always struck me as a progressive stylistic and structural backpedalling from the craggier, more potent 1873. (About ten years ago, a FANFARE or ARG reviewer, writing of the 1889 3rd, put it more succinctly than I ever could : "I love Brahms, but I want my Bruckner free of him." Jochum, of course, preferred the 1889, as did Szell and Bohm.) The 5th in this box is the 1957 Bavarian Radio version -Jochum's best, to my ears. The 6th strikes me as Jochum's most convincing effort with this quirky masterpiece, although he never quite had as sure a grasp of its "DNA" as he did with the 5th, 7th and 9th - and certainly not as much as in Steinberg's 6th. Jochum's stereo 9th comes across as deeper and more involved than his mono 1954 Bavarian Radio - which still may have been the best commercial 9th until this later one.
And yet, Jochum's 1954 Bavarian Radio 4th, 1952 Berlin 7th, and 1949 Hamburg 8th (none of which are in this box) are more intense and fresher in interpretative impact. The 1954 4th & 9th are in the DG Sprache der Welt series (the 4th only available from amazon.de - that is, the German site). The 1952 Berlin 7th was available on Tahra (before it got axed), and the 1949 Hamburg 8th - Haas version ! - and the 1954 9th were available on a DG Originals 2-fer (which has also met the ax).
True, Jochum's early 80s EMI/ Dresden Bruckner cycle is indeed inspired and radiates an almost manic energy throughout, but what spoils most of it for me is the edgily-recorded, intonation-challenged brass. The fact is, they played MUCH better for Rudolf Kempe in their 1970-76 Strauss cycle. (As a brass player, I can take "edge", and I can take some occasional pitch problems, but not both.) This is REALLY noticeable in the Finale of the 5th, where Jochum - per his usual custom - reinforces the existing brass with "extras" which, to my ears, play excrementally.
