Customer Reviews

Bruckner: Symphony No. 6 / Gluck / Humperdinck

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

 

 

This is a classic recording of one of the less approachable Bruckner Symphonies (no.2 conducted by Tintner on Naxos is the best place to start if you're not familiar with Bruckner)
....it's all too easy to overlook but the slow movement of no.6 is one of Bruckner's most sublime creations and somehow i want to wallow in it more than Klemperer's relatively (surprisingly!)brisk tempo allows.Not that it sounds impatient but i'd supplement Klemperer with Celibidache(emi)who offers a much broader view without sounding indulgent in any way.

I think, this is the best recording of Bruckner's "Phylosophical" 6th Symphony. It is majestic.

This is the first recording of new constitued New Philharmonia Orchestra. I don't disturb the tempi of Klemperer and I don't think same as the other rewievers who are dissapointed. Because, this is a last period recording of Klemperer, and already his tempi are generally not normal. Because, according to him music must be articulated cleanly and it must have breathe. The tempi decided by circumstances... And the performance of orchestra is very good. The famous espressivo themes of strings played with emotion and amazing brass sections are majestic. The second movement is one of the composer's most beautiful slow movements. There is an excellent example of counterpoint, which means Bruckner's hommage and love to Renaissance music.

This is a legendary recording. Highly recommended.

This performance led by Otto Klemperer is brilliant and the sound is also excellent. It wasn't even superseded by Eugen Jochum and the Bayreuth Radio Symphony in that magnificent Bruckner cycle on DG. I am glad to see this recording reissued numerous times, which means it is readily available at reasonable prices. The performace is great, like the man who conducted it!

Try Klemperer's Bruckner 4th also on EMI!

I have a silly habit of thinking of Klemperer as the musical equivalent of Gladstone, the "Grand Old Man" of conductors: granitic, stately and a moral imperative. If you were to make a list of conductors whose personal attributes and musical sensibilities would seem to lend themselves most aptly to performing Bruckner's music, surely Klemperer would head the list. This was his first recording, in 1964, with the Philharmonia Orchestra reincarnated as the "New" P.O.; he was already 79 and the way he launches into the opening movement is truly the "maestoso" of an interpreter who knows what he wants the music to do. Any awkward turns or transitions in the music are the fault of the composer himself in this most uncompromising of his symphonies. I could ask for a little more delicacy in the woodwind passages but the splendour of the brass in the reinstatement of that big first subject is thrilling and contrasts wonderfully with the noble tread of the Adagio with its yearning, falling figure. I left a concert featuring this symphony in London last year thinking that Bruckner really wasn't among my favourite symphonists; listening to Klemperer here, I am now reminded that the fault lay in the interpretation, not the music. Klemperer provides unity and vision where lesser conductors let things go slack. Up to a point, Bruckner's intentions are so clear that and the mood he intends to establish so patent that to some degree his music plays itself as long as the conductor maintains an overview and doesn't get bogged down in fussy point-making (c.f. Barenboim?); Klemperer never does the latter.

The fillers are also vintage Klemperer in the same hopelessly outdated mode: the Gluck overture is objectively far too slow, especially in the light of modern performance practice, but I love its assured dignity and the way Klemperer savours the cascading intervals of its main theme. He makes the slow introduction to the faster string arpeggio section sound almost elephantine and brings a special mystery to the repeated lamenting semitone figure on the oboe; it's special. Similarly the Humperdinck overture is glorious - and also slow, but sumptuous.

This disc is a great memento of a wonderful conductor in his autumnal years, does homage to the music programmed here and is a worthy addition to the EMI GROC series.

Because I don't own multiple recordings of most Bruckner symphonies, I always make my reviews about the music. But I would just like to comment that Klemperer is one of my very favorite conductors, so it's not a surprise for me that he interprets this symphony so convincingly. This work is usually tossed into the "cute and small" bin, as if it was Bizet's Symphony in C. NOT THE CASE, my friends. There is no less drama and power in this symphony than any of Bruckner's most powerful. What it has that some of the later ones don't is a general conciseness with material, and the powerful sections are that much more effective because of it.

Don't get me wrong: the Third Symphony is a favorite of mine, but my point is that No.6 is unfairly passed over when it should be one of the first recommended (especially to listener's who find Bruckner difficult). It is surely his most accessible symphony along with No.4 and (I argue) No.2.

This CD fills out with two Overtures, one a magnificent potboiler arranged by Wagner from themes of Gluck's opera "Iphegine in Tauride," and the other Humperdinck's "Hansel and Gretel." Both are wonderful in their own right, but it's the Bruckner you NEED to hear.

EMI has gotten more mileage with reissues than any other classical label. Sure they have the greatest archive of recordings in the history of music sitting in their vaults, but how many times do they have to reissue the very same performances on CD? Otto Klemperer's 1964 account of Bruckner's 6th Symphony is simply the best recording of the work ever made. However, if you previously owned it via the "Klemperer Legacy" series, there is no need to "upgrade." The sound is identical to the Legacy set as they were both remastered using the same technology. The inclusion of the Gluck and Humperdinck pieces is a nice touch, but they have been previously available as well. In all, this is certainly a five-star performance, but EMI gets a one-star deduction for continually putting a new face on the same classic product.

Let me keep it simple. I do not understand how this recording has achieved "legendary" status. I love Bruckner like no other composer--he is the greatest. Klemperer is a *magnificent* conductor--one of my favorites. However, this performance is a clean miss and, to my ears, unlistenable. There is a great symphony here, but you would not know it from listening to this performance. While I have not yet heard a performance of the 6th I would call "definitive", the best I've heard is Karajan's with the Berlin Philharmonic. I also really like Blomstedt's with the San Francisco Symphony very much. Celibidache's with the Munich Philharmonic is also excellent. Jochum's with the Bavarian RSO has an *amazing* 1st movement, but the rest of the performance continues at an unremarkable level.