Customer Reviews

Bruckner: Symphony No. 5

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This Bruckner recording is absolutely wonderful. It is a taut,dramatic reading that held my attention from start to finish. The orchestra sounds excellent,however it is not the smooth homogenous sound Karajan drew from this orchestra. The sections are more distinct, but still coordinated, and their playing could not be better. The brass are especially prominent in this recording, which makes for a thrilling finale. It is one of my favorite discs, and I think the best Bruckner 5 around!

It seems that Gunter Wand can do no wrong when it comes to Anton Bruckner; his amazing talent and brilliant vision drive this somewhat enigmatic work to the breaking point. Never has this difficult symphony sounded so clear, so logical, so convincing. Gunter Wand's skillful hand leads the Berlin Philharmonic in this definitive version of Bruckner's 5th Symphony.

What makes this recording so wonderful is Wand's masterful rendition of the finale. The finale of Bruckner's 5th is difficult for conductors and listeners alike. The complex (but throughly logical) fugue that rests in the middle of the piece is daunting. Bruckner masterfully weaves the opening motif of the finale with a choral theme introduced before the onslaught of the fugue. Its difficult to not only coordinate this thematic struggle between the two motifs but also to bring meaning to the music. So many conductors barely make it out of the fugue alive - the recording I have with Solti and the CSO being a prime example. However, only a true musical genius can bring meaning to this complex movement. Wand's interpretation is amazing. He highlights what needs to be highlighted, allows the fugue to unfold naturally, and brings a level of logic and understanding to the music. I never really understood the finale of Bruckner's 5th until I heard Wand's interpretation. Absolutely stunning.

The other three movements are just as wonderful. The powerful introduction unfolds mystically in Wand's hands. The beautiful string playing from the Philharmonic in the adagio is enchanting. The demonic scherzo also develops quite wonderfully. Typical of all of Gunter Wand's recordings, the level of musicianship and scope of vision is unparalleled. This is a highly recommended recording.

I came late to Wand. I have been having this CD in my collection but never gave it attentive hearing. My favourite conductor when it comes to Bruckner always was Karajan. Just recently I chanced listening to this CD and I was blown away. I will be listening to Wand's other symphonies with Berlin Philharmonic for sure. If Wand's interpretations of Bruckner's other symphonies also are as good as his reading of the 5th here, I might have to replace Wand as my first Brucknerian of choice. Once I listened to this, I reached out to my Karajan complete symphonies with Berlin Philharmonic and picked out Karajan's version of the 5th with BPO. I compared them movement by movement. I played the Karajan 5th - movement 1 and then I played Wand's 5th - movement 1. I did the same for all the other three movements. I found a distinct superiority in Wand. I was amazed that there was someone better than whom I considered to be Bruckner's premiere interpreter. When I compared Wand and Karajan, I found Karajan gets a muffled sound from the orchestra, his violins appear in the distance, the sonority he extracts from the brass is not just as powerful as Wand's. Also the bass seems artificially jacked in the sound recording department. Wand on the hand is satisfactory in all these department. The acoustic recording quality exceeds that of Karajan's. May be it has to do witht he fact that Wand's 5th is a live recording. Not sure if Karajan's 5th I have (from the complete Bruckner symphonies set with Berlin) is live or not. Also Wand conducts the music literally (as on the score) without personal embellishments while Karajan's music sounds a little glossed up or adjusted. I am not a fan of Karajan's Beethoven cycle due to this but I was a big fan of his Bruckner because I felt his approach helped Bruckner become more accessible, interesting, and invigorating to new listeners. I have to alter my opinion after listening to Wand. When I listen to Wand, I can hear all those quiet transitions most importantly the whispering pizzicato on the strings that punctuate Bruckner's movements. With karajan, I felt a disjoin between the huge passages because the bridging transitions were muted, and almost inaudible. With Wand, I can listen to the quiet pizzicato easily, I don't need to strain for it. When these transitions are not dumbed down or glossed up, the transition becomes as beautiful sounding as the large passages. The symphony 5 as a whole started making so much more sense to me. I did not have to strain myself to concentrate for the long time scale of the 5th, it became effortless,infact seemed too short this time. What power Wand extracts from the Brass sections...Wow. I then researched more and recordings for Bruckner and saw glowing reviews from amazon reviewers. There seems to be a bit of a split between which is the better wand cycle - the symphony cycle with Berlin or the cycle with Cologne Symphony orchestra - most folks leaning towards the Berlin. I am so blown away with Wand's straightforward reading, his clean lines, his unadulterated reading, and his ability to extract the full sound from the orchestra not only in the big passages but also in the transitions that I am going to get both sets for sure at some point. You cannot go wrong with this CD. Please try wand, you may just convert to Wand's Bruckner just like me.

As my introduction to the Bruckner Fifth, I listened to three different recordings to compare them: the 1953 reading by Furtwängler and the Vienna Philharmonic, Furtwängler's 1942 recording with the Berlin Philharmonic, and this, Gunther Wand's 1996 live performance with the Berlin Philharmonic.

Wand's album here is really a magnificent acheivement. To begin with, this may be the best recording of an orchestra that I've ever heard. This is demonstration quality audio, to say the least, the Berliners' playing thundering from the speakers with all of its nuances captured in the right balance. The orchestral playing and the recording are so breathtaking, you'd want to hear this disc for them alone.

But Wand's interpretation is just as much of an asset here. His reading of this symphony conveys an astute sense of chapter and paragraph: of the connections between them and of the rise and fall of the dramatic line that runs through them. The real gem here is the reading of the second and third movements. Wand treats them as two parts of the same middle movement, highlighting the strong thematic interrelationships between the Adagio and the Scherzo better than in either of Furtwängler's recordings; this is conducting of real depth and profundity. I also quite enjoyed the first movement here. Where Furtwängler in his '42 Berlin recording saved the real drama for the finale, Wand brings an impressive force and weight to the first movement as well. While it might be argued that this approach doesn't serve the dramatic effect of the entire symphony quite as well, nevertheless it brings an awesome majesty out of the opening movement.

I think Wand delivers a lesser reading than Furtwängler's of '42, in that he's just a bit plodding and muscle-bound. I do mean just a bit, mind you: this is still elegant, refined work. But next to Furtwängler, Wand is just a bit less improvisatory and graceful and a bit more methodical, plodding, workmanlike. It's a narrow margin, to be sure, but it's definitely there, and it shows especially in the finale, where I think the Furtwängler of '42 is twice the reading of Wand's here. Wand's finale is finely wrought, but Furtwängler's is one of the greatest masterpieces of musical interpretation with which I'm familiar.

In sum, I recommend hearing this album and the 1942 Furtwängler (which I've also reviewed here at Amazon). In all the Furtwängler is the better reading, but not by much, and the incredible recorded sound here makes up the difference, to my ears.

Wand had a special understanding of Bruckner. This recording was made live but you would never know it. Grab this CD while it is still available.

This recording of Bruckner 5, brings super human playing from the BPO. This is the best played Bruckner 5th I have ever heard (yes even better played than their earlier recordings). Listen to the slow movement or the finale ending to hear just 2 examples of incredible playing.

Wands insights are just as telling...the music flows very naturally from him and the phrasing is superb. Perhaps his slow movement lack that last insight Karajan brought to the work, but it is clear that Wand understands this music better than most.

A teriffic disc.

Although, I would prefer Herbert von Karajan's classic performance of this work to be in the catalog, I am content to know that this incredible performance is on the market currently. I was a bit hesitant at first about buying this recording, not knowing much of Gunter Wand. However, after some surfing on the internet and discovering that he has devoted much time to becoming well acquainted with the works of Bruckner, I decided to take a chance.

After hearing this recording for the first time, it was evident to me that Wand not only has become acquainted with these works, but he has taken them to heart. He conducts them with such love. It is clear to me that he hasn't gone into these works with a semi-apathetic attitude (i.e. Botstein on Telarc), but takes Bruckner quite seriously. Bruckner himself was a very serious man and quite vulnerable. You can hear these qualities in the music. In the fifth symphony there is a constant struggle between dominance and passivity. I think that Bruckner himself lead this fight in life. As we've seen through the revisions of his works he allowed, that passivity seems to have one on many occasions.

The orchestra on this CD (the Berlin Philharmonic) has a deep tradition in Bruckner. Having been lead by Karajan and Barenboim in fully cycles to name a few, they know the music of Bruckner well, which means they were quite able to respond to Wand's conducting.

Definitely this is a Bruckner 5 to own. Much much better than many of the recordings out there, and my favorite of what is available.

I'll be very frank, as I usually am... Bruckner's 5th has never won me over. I find it to be among the most boring of his symphonies. This is a symphony that requires a very dedicated conductor who can mold this ungainly beast into something resembling a coherent symphonic work. There are countless instances especially in the first and last movements where the music comes to an abrupt stop, only then to lurch forward into a completely new territory that comes out of nowhere. This kind of makeshift composing would never happen in the logical, fully formed symphonic odysseys of Beethoven and Brahms. The scherzo is a compact, strong piece of music. At the same time, it is yet another Brucknerian ode to the scherzo of Beethoven's 9th. That is why Bruckner will never be on that level no matter what Wagner might have said about him. Wagner's quote was, "There is only one symphonic composer who comes close to Beethoven and that is Bruckner." This was more a swipe at Brahms than anything else.

Bruckner's 4th and 7th for instance are sturdy creations and a conductor can play them naturally or rather literally and get away with it for the most part. Not so with the 5th symphony, which needs rescuing. If one wants to use another term, it's "micro-managing." The ultimate subjective conductor who could make something like this work was Wilhelm Furtwangler. Listening to his performance from 1942 was awe-inspiring in the way he worked his magic over this score. Say what you will about the merits of Furtwangler's emphasis on tempo changes in the music of Brahms or Beethoven, the works of Wagner and Bruckner were made for his style of tinkering. For instance, after the pizzicato opening of the slow movement, Furtwangler positively soars into the main theme on the strings, holding nothing back. Every brass fanfare in the first and fourth movements sound like the end of the world. There are many other details to mention but I'm not reviewing Furtwangler here.

How is Gunter Wand's sober, literal-minded approach? It's a slow and steady climb up a very ragged, jagged mountain. There is nothing remotely wrong with this approach but as I said earlier, this is a symphony that demands, positively seeks more involvement from the maestro on the podium. There are two big pluses for Wand on this record. First and foremost, the Berlin Philharmonic sound exceptional as they are supposed to, considering their grandiose reputation. Secondly, RCA provides exemplary sound quality, rich and detailed that obviously scores over anything that Furtwangler received in the mono era. I would rank Wand somewhere in the mid-high level of interpretations. Furtwangler, Jochum, Karajan had more imagination. So did the recent Thielemann on DG, even if Thielemann went into a completely different direction, smoothing out a lot of those jagged edges on which Furtwangler simply thrived.

Overall this is a good Bruckner 5th and lives up to Wand's reputation as a serious, sober conductor who rarely let himself get swept away. It's not worth the Amazon price, so find it on the used market.

Por fin el viejo maestro aleman ,graba con la filarm{onica de Berlin el repertorio que mejor sabe y donde actualmente no tienr rival (ni modo Baremboim,karajan,y otros. Wand borda una ejecucion firmemente apegada alos deseos del compositor;con la precision que podria dar una larga asociacion al repertorio ,y la experiencia de un gran director que prefirio siempre el estudio y la concentracion en temas musicales,que el oropel de la publicidad y las luminarias,en este disco en realidad estamos escuchando a un director legendario a su mayor poder y capacidad,con la mejor orquesta de Europa. La grabacion es en vivo ,lo que le da mayor autenticidad,Es la mejor version que he oido de la 5a de bruckner (sobre todo el coral del Finale) y algo de experiencia he de tener puesto que tengo 12 versiones diferentes.Una magnifica oportunidad de oir a un director de verdad,y no solo un director con publicidad

Andrei Tarkovsky once affirmed the actual times the future is considered an extension of the present, and therefore, the capacity to dream tends to vanish. That attitude before the life has been the main obstacle for Anton Bruckner, a composer who always looked forward.

Having born in a transition moment, Bruckner' s time was so gentle; the world was in the eve of the WW1 and the art was walking not precisely in the same direction; so his time had to wait for best times, but after the WW2, the triviality mastered the world and nothing seems to announce a change of profile.

It could be said Bruckner was spiritually, a direct heiress of Beethoven and his music is distant to be self indulgent, agonic or desperate. But their values are there and only waits for you.

The Fifth Symphony is a true breakthrough, an authentic crossroad that defined the cosmic dimensions of this composer; and this version remarks it with special emphasis.

Totally recommended.