Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 (Royal Edition No. 25)

Anton Bruckner (Composer), Leonard Bernstein (Conductor), New York Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: New York Philharmonic Orchestra
• Conductor: Leonard Bernstein
• Composer: Anton Bruckner
• Audio CD (July 28, 1992)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0000027MA
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #317,510 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Symphony No. 9 in D minor, WAB 109: I. Feierlich, Misterioso

2. Symphony No. 9 in D minor, WAB 109: II. Scherzo. Bewegt, lebhaft - Trio. Schnell

3. Symphony No. 9 in D minor, WAB 109: III. Adagio. Langsam, feierlich

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The greatest composer Bernstein couldn't conduct, September 30, 2005

By 

Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 (Royal Edition No. 25) (Audio CD)

In a recent interview James Levine commented that there were only two composers he would never conduct: Shostakovich and Bruckner. The reason he gave was that he couldn't add anythng new that others hadn't already said better. Bernstein admitted something similar when he told an interviewer that Karajan had already said all that could be said about Bruckner (a rare compliment considering the source.) I've also heard reports that he simply didn't respect the music.

Even so, LB gave the Ninth Sym. two tries, once on DG with the Vienna Phil. and here with his own NY Phil. on Sony. Both performances misfire. Bernstein can't find a way to combine his own emotionalism and romantic grandiosity with Bruckner's, and the result feels awkward and unsympathetic. As a document of a great conductor offering some unusual ideas, this CD merits only passing interest. It's like hearing Furtwangler in Ravel or Bartok.

P.S. 2011 - In hindsight I sound too dismissive. the orchestra plays well, and the reading is nicely proportioned, with no exaggerations or expressive overload. I can see other listeners liking this Ninth, but they would have to be attuned to one of LB's rare episodes of straightforward conducting without personal involvement.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Symphony Bernstein Shouldn't have Conducted (but did), September 16, 2007

By 

Eric Koenig "Isa" (Kalamazoo, MI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 (Royal Edition No. 25) (Audio CD)

I myself didn't hear Bruckner's music until 1974 when I heard a re-release (on Time-Life, The Story of Great Music, The Opulent Era) of Klemperer's EMI recording with the Philharmonia of the second version of the Fourth Symphony. Not long afterwards I checked a recording of the Ninth out of the library and it was this one by Bernstein. I loved the Adagio but didn't love the whole Symphony the way I'd fallen in love with the Klemperer Fourth. But not long afterwards I bought a 2-LP set on DG of the Ninth and the Te Deum with the Berlin Philharmonic and Eugen Jochum. Finally I understood Bruckner's last utterance (and got quite a thrill from his best-known choral work too). Sadly the attempt Bernstein made to essay into the depths of Bruckner's final Symphony didn't work when compared to other conductors as I instantly found out. The Adagio is spectacular but the opening movement is not what Bruckner called for and the Scherzo is too fast. Listen to Jochum's account with the Berlin PO on DG and you will hear the difference. Bernstein should not have tried to record this one -- but he did anyhow.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Lenny in unfamiliar territory, December 27, 2007

By 

David Goldman - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 (Royal Edition No. 25) (Audio CD)

The celestial vision and final certainty of Bruckner was beyond Leonard Bernstein, or perhaps Bernstein was too far beyond and above Bruckner, a simple man who Knew what he Knew. More than ten years after, I still remember my initial disappointment, and mounting amusement, when I played the Bernstein CD. The only worth of Bernstein's parody-like interpretation is comparative, and as a lesson that even geniuses have their limits. The best starting point for appreciating this greatest of symphonies is the version by Carlo Maria Giulini, who proceeded with perfect humility to capture Bruckner's vision of heaven, the closest I'll probably ever get to it.