Bruckner: Symphony No. 3 / Wagner: Lohengrin ~ Preludes - Acts 1&3

Anton Bruckner (Composer), Wagner (Composer), Michael Gielen (Conductor), SWR Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden / Freiburg (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: SWR Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden / Freiburg
• Conductor: Michael Gielen
• Composer: Anton Bruckner, Wagner
• Audio CD (January 25, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Hanssler Classics
• ASIN: B00005Y4NM
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #483,830 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Gemaessigt, mehr bewegt, misterioso

2. Andante. Bewegt, feierlich, quasi Adagio

3. Scherzo. Ziemlich schnell

4. Finale. Allegro

5. Prelude Act 1

6. Prelude Act 3

Editorial Reviews

Fresh from this year’s Cannes Classical Awards come this latest entry in the popular Michael Gielen discography. This month we feature our Lifetime Achievement Award winner in a riveting performance of Bruckner’s troubled 3rd Symphony. Originally conceived as his “Wagner” Symphony (complete with quotes from Wagner’s operas), the score was the target of mean-spirited attacks from Bruckner’s nemesis, the critic Hanslick. Poor insecure Bruckner produced no fewer than three different versions of this score in an ongoing attempt help it find acceptance. Fortunately, those dark days are long past and we can enjoy Bruckner without fear in this epic reading of the approved 1876 revision. Bravo Bruckner!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A propulsive Third in the chilly shadow of George Szell's, October 26, 2008

By 

Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Bruckner: Symphony No. 3 / Wagner: Lohengrin ~ Preludes - Acts 1&3 (Audio CD)

In his day George Szell was the most prominent "objectivist" conductor of Bruckner on the scene. He took the symphonies out of the cathdral into the machine age, stripping away any hint of reverence or spiritual grandeur. His recordings stood at the oppoiste end from Furtwangler's, just as this Thrid Sym. from Michael Gielen stands at the opposite end from Daniel Barenboim's broad, grandiose account with the Berlin Phil. (Teldec). Recorded in 1999, this CD won some remarkable praise in England, alaong the lines of "a revelaiton, none has ever been better."

Well. To even approach being that good, Gielen's orchestra has to be discounted. The SWR orchestra of Baden-Baden and Freiburg is competent, precise, and exuberant without being anywhere near great. The recorded sound is faithful and doesn't try to inflate the lean-sounding string body. Solo winds and brass are run-of-the-mill. Loving this reading of the 1877 Nowak edition -- there are two others, earlier and later -- comes down to the conducting. Either you like "objective" Bruckner moving quickly without much rubato and lots of propulsion, or you have different ideas.

I have different ideas and yet quite enjoyed Gielen's muscular style, which turned out to be less chilly and controlled than Szell's (if only he had Szell's Cleveland Orch.). There's a trifle more flexibility in Gielen's beat and no sense of driving too hard. I don't think oue could argue that the second movement is "quasi Adagio" at this walking pace, and the finale crowds the strings at times. At 55 min., this is the shortest Thrid I've heard except for the Harnoncourt, which is a few seconds faster. There's more than enough room to toss in the two 'Lohengrin' preludes, where Gielen's brisk mananer and absence of reverence (in the Act I Prelude) doesn't suit the tone Wagner wanted to set.