add to wish list | library


5 of 9 recommend this,
would you recommend it?

yes | no

Support this site by purchasing from these vendors using the paid links below. As an Amazon Associate SA-CD.net earns from qualifying purchases.
 
amazon.ca
amazon.co.uk
amazon.com
amazon.de
 
amazon.fr
amazon.it
 
jpc

Reviews: Bruckner: Symphony No. 5 - Neeme Järvi

read discussion

Reviews: 2

Site review by Polly Nomial March 25, 2010
Performance:   Sonics:  
The text for this review has been moved to the new site. You can read it here:

http://www.HRAudio.net/showmusic.php?title=6395#reviews

Review by hanser July 17, 2010 (16 of 16 found this review helpful)
Performance:   Sonics:  
I have to give a different opinion here. For me, this recording is a revelation. Finally somebody seems to read the notes as they are written. After decades of mystifying and celebrating Bruckner to death by using ever more time and extending his already massive works ever more, somebody dares to oppose tradition and play a different, more lively and energetic Bruckner. Of course we all do not know, what Bruckner himself would have preferred, but when I look into the notes, I see the following:

1st movement: Alla breve! That means that the tempo has to be feeled in half notes, two strokes per bar instead of four. So, Järvi in fact plays the introduction Adagio, but in alla breve.

When the first ff burst comes, I got almost angry with him, because now he slows down instead of keeping his perfect pace. Perhaps tradition has been a too heavy weight on him, too, nevertheless.

The Allegro is a good pace, but never rushed, the final pages exhilirating.

The Adagio took me first by surprise, because I, like all of us, was used to much slower tempo. But again a look into the notes convinced me: Again, it is alla breve. So the strings have to play 3 notes on every stroke, at the beginning. If bruckner had wanted to have this accompaging figure slow, he would not have written them in triolic quarters with alla breve.
Although, of, course, the movement works (as all really great music) at a large variety of tempi, this one seems to be absolutely within the limits of what Bruckners tempo description says.

The last two movements do not deviate that much from the tradition, although the finale is again great to here in a much more lively version.

Since I discovered Bruckner about 30 years ago for me, and began studying the notes, I have seached and hoped for recordings that respect the ubiquitous alle breve signs, that Bruckner gave his symphonies. In fact, most of his first movements are alla breve, but nobody cared it seemed. When Markus Bosch recorded the 9th and the 6th in faster tempi than traditional, I was ecstatic and listened to them over and over. Now, finally we have a 5th that respects the notes Bruckner wrote. I am patiently waiting for a 4th, 7th and 8th, that aknowledge the alla breve sign in their first movements.

Sound quality in multchannel is fine.

Was this review helpful to you?  yes | no