Customer Reviews

Bruckner: Symphonies Nos. 8 & 9; Te Deum [DVD Video]

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

I concur with the previous, splendid review. This two DVD set is an important release for capturing von Karajan's brilliant vision of Bruckner's Eighth Symphony, his personal favorite amongst ALL symphonies. I was privileged to attend Karajan's final American performance, and his penultimate anywhere, in February 1989, conducting the Vienna Philharmonic in the Eighth for a flu-ridden Carnegie Hall. Frail and ill, a mere 6 months before his death, his performance felt like a communique from the beyond as he somehow managed a titanic Eighth lasting 100 minutes. That performance seemed to suspend time as his Bruckner communed with the Angels. At its completion, we witnessed Karajan, his breath labored and his shriveled body barely upright, weeping through a 30 minute ovation. The audience wept as well. This performance was captured in June 1979 in St. Florian, Bruckner's own church of the Augustinian Monastery near Linz where he had been organist, and where he lies buried in the crypt beneath the organ. The performance is shorter than that final Eighth, lasting 84 minutes but is nonetheless probing, profound, and touched with an epic grandeur. The orchestral sonority is rich and multi-colored, their playing superb, frequently moving and always thrilling.

The unfinished Ninth symphony, anguished, often nightmarish with its machine-like scherzo, chilling trio and dissonant climax that seems to presage the new century, is given a tough reading of great urgency. Although the performance is not technically perfect, its conception is brilliant, the effect staggering. The Vienna Philharmonic sound massive and dark hued: the horns are weighty and monumental, the strings forceful yet lyrical, speaking insistently from out of the darkness, producing shivers down the spine. This is a troubled symphony and we are captive for its duration. The experience is shattering. The Te Deum is beautifully sung, a lofty hymn of praise, the light of faith following the long midnight of the soul. It is a splendid end to a superb concert.

These are performances that Bruckner/Karajan aficionados should enjoy and may even find revelatory. Most strongly recommended.

Mike Birman

This is simply a great DVD - for anyone interested in the music of Anton Bruckner, in the conducting of Herbert von Karajan, and most especially, for anyone interested in the Austrian-German performing tradition in the 20th century.

Taped (not filmed) in front of audiences in 1979 at the Stiftskirche St. Florian, Linz (Symphony No. 8) and 1978 at the Musikverein in Vienna (Symphony No. 9 and the Te Deum), the performances have the visual patina of European television of that era, transporting the viewer back to a particular place and time, especially for anyone who was alive then and remembers it. (By contrast, Deutsche Gramophon's DVDs of the Mahler symphonies, performed much earlier in the 1970s by Leonard Bernstein and the Vienna Philharmonic, have a cleaner look for having been recorded on film, which was restored for the DVD release.) The sound, however, far from being congested TV audio, is exceptionally spacious and clear, and for the most part, well-defined across the spectrum. And it's enhanced by being able to see one of the world's greatest orchestras execute these richly-textured scores. As of my second viewing I couldn't decide whether it was actually that more acoustic information and detail was available here than in the typical audio-only recording, or if it just seemed that way.

The performance itself is of a kind that cannot be experienced anywhere today. Perfectly controlled and beautifully nuanced, Karajan maintains the famous "line" through the massive structure of the symphonies and the compact, burnished architecture of the Te Deum while wringing astonishing power and intensity from the last works of a composer - and from an orchestra - known for both. Missing are the coldness and detachment sometimes ascribed to Karajan's music-making by his detractors - not that any review or performance, however remarkable, would persuade them. Instead what's evident is full, unrestrained commitment from a master then in his last years at the height of his powers, standing in front of an orchestra with whom he had spent decades moving deeper into music that plumbs the depths of human experience. Even the legendarily controlled playing of the Vienna Philharmonic here feels so unconstrained that inevitably just a few rough, humanizing edges appear in an otherwise seamless fabric.

Electrifying and unforgettable, I'll be returning to these discs often, and I can't thank DG enough for making them available.

To mark the 100th anniversary of Herbert von Karajan Deutsche Grammophon continues the exploration of its video catalogue and unearthing these remarkable Bruckner concerts from 1978/79 with the Wiener Philharmoniker is a more than welcome event. What I find amazing about these filmed documents is that they disprove more than anything the complaints often laid against Karajan as the inhuman control freak.
Here is a conductor, in the autumn of his career, entirely on top of his game, serving as the most dedicated guide through these fascinating works, obtaining magnificent results from one of the finest orchestras of the day. Karajan knows as none else to blend sense of architecture with orchestral detail and transparency. His Bruckner may not always be the most mysterious (compared to Eugen Jochum, for example) but for all his mastery of structure, these readings preserve a degree of spontaneity, warmth and glow, humanity even, undoubtedly linked to some extent to performing live. This is best realised in the 9th symphony, where Karajan's unerring sense of pace really drives the listener toward the abyss. The playing of the Wiener Philharmoniker is in this respect nothing short of outstanding. It's perhaps not so much about orchestral precision (although very little really dramatic here either, considering these are live concerts) but about colour, transparency (the strings are sublime), sweep, and dynamics. The moments of silence are as powerfully gripping as the tutti. The "Te Deum" is also a first-rate performance, reminding us in Karajan's dealing with the Wiener Singverein, what a great opera conductor he was.

The main drawback of this issue, however (and for a release under Karajan's artistic supervision this is quite exceptional), is the visual quality of the films. Taped in 1978/79 in the Musikverein in Vienna and in the St Florian Stifstkirche near Linz (so to speak Bruckner's temple) they sadly show their age, quite unlike the earlier Karajan/Berliner Tchaikovsky and Brahms Symphonies also on DG, which were captured on 35mm film. These Bruckner concerts suffer from poor colour definition and contrast, while the 9th and the "Te Deum" shot at the Musikverein, are much too dark. The camerawork is generally also a lot more conventional than in the other often visually stunning Karajan concerts. Fortunately, the sound is fine, without being exceptional, but the sheer beauty of the orchestra can be appreciated.

Performance-wise this a five star release, but since we are considering DVD's which also have to be seen, I need to give it a four.

Karajan's video recordings of Bruckner are as profound visually and they are aurally...especially the Eighth, live from St. Florian, Linz.

The performances are incredibly profound and magisterial. Not to mention extrordinarily beautiful, moving and passionate.

These performances rank on a whole other level in interpretation that perhaps scales heights previous unmatched even in Karajan's audio recordings!

A must for Karajan lovers and Bruckner lovers!

mirculous amazing, what a sound that great great orchestra can produce, and what depth. nothing further more to add except boy Bruckner really toed the line in Catholic theology in Te Deum! He was devout. And one more, Karajan was amazing at Bruckner, there was love in every bar. Enjoy.

I watched this because like so many others, I love Bruckner's 8th. And of course Karajan. But I was only familiar with Te Deum by reputation. Al I can say is that I do not have the eloquence to even begin to do this work, and this particular performance, any justice whatsoever. Karajan is also very different stylistically in this chorale piece as compared to the symphonic works. Just get this, and be awed. If you are a Christian (Catholic or Protestant), the Te Deum will overwhelm you.

I would like to add some comments for those who are particularly interested in the video and sound quality of this DVD. I have been fortunate to attend a concert of the Vienna Philharmonic performing the Bruckner Eighth. The VPO has this music in their blood, but it takes some coaxing from the conductor for them to give a really special performance, otherwise they can sound like they are on auto-pilot (like at the performance I attended, the conductor of which shall remain nameless).

As another reviewer stated, the video quality is so-so on these DVD's. This is especially true for the Bruckner Eighth, which looks like it was sourced from an nth generation video tape. The picture is murky and there is very noticeable video noise and scan line artifacting (it is similar to VHS quality). In addition, the audio, while not as distractingly bad, lacks clarity and dynamics. There is very little sense that the orchestra is performing in the cathedral that they are in, which one would think should add a nice reverberation and bloom to the music. Whether due to the mediocre recording quality or Karajan's conducting that day, this performance of Bruckner's Eighth, which was one of Karajan's favorite pieces, doesn't quite catch fire for me. A real disappointment. If you are fairly new to Bruckner, you are better off acquiring one of Karajan's CD's for this piece.

The good news is that the picture and sound are significantly better on the second disc which holds the Ninth Symphony and the Te Deum. While still not ideally clear, the recording in this case is not bad enough to detract from the performance. These performances were done in a concert hall rather than a church, and for whatever reason, the sound has much better dynamics. I found the performance of the Ninth Symphony to be very exciting, and the Te Deum was thrilling as well. The DVD does not make it clear whether the Te Deum was done at the same performance as the Symphony, but Bruckner did suggest that it serve as a possible finale to the Ninth (which he never completed). On the DVD, the Te Deum follows the symphony, and one notices that it doesn't quite work as a finale, partly due to its being in an inappropriate key. Interestingly, Karajan totally changes his conducting style for the Te Deum, eschewing a baton and keeping his eyes clearly open (he tends to conduct serious works with his eyes closed).

By the way, don't miss the "trailer" on the first disc. It is actually a generous helping of extended excerpts from other Karajan DVD's, lasting almost a full hour! I found the von Suppe, Wagner, and Tchaikovsky Fourth excerpts most entertaining. This almost made up for the disappointment of the Eighth Symphony.