Listening to Bruckners monumental Eighth Symphony, here running some 88 minutes, is like scaling Everest. The summit doesnt come into sight until well into the third, slow movement, then its not until the third approach via other vistas that we arrive with a clash of cymbals at the peak. En route there are diversions into Alpine meadows where its not too fanciful to suggest an Edelweiss is in flower. • Zubin Mehta recorded Bruckners Ninth Symphony early on in his career but neither his name nor that of this orchestra has been much associated with the Austrian composer. It was therefore something of a gamble for ArtHaus to release this 1987 performance. Mehta pleads and cajoles his orchestra to give of their all, but ultimately the demands of the music and the unsympathetic acoustic of the Alte Oper Frankfurt defeat them. • The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra at key moments isnt always playing as one in a symphony where there are so many entries that require a unison response. One senses that the conductors forward pacing of the music takes its toll on the precision within the huge waves of sound Bruckner launches throughout the work. Anxiety brings with it the wrong sort of tension, so that when the music drops into one of the pastoral episodes theres little sense that weve moved into gentler terrain despite the heroic efforts of the principal flautist to add a scenic diversion. --Adrian Edwards
Nasza strona internetowa używa plików cookies (tzw. ciasteczka) w celach statystycznych oraz funkcjonalnych. Dzięki nim możemy indywidualnie dostosować stronę do twoich potrzeb.
Każdy może zaakceptować pliki cookies albo ma możliwość wyłączenia ich w przeglądarce, dzięki czemu nie będą zbierane żadne informacje.
Dodatkowe informacje znajdziesz w naszym regulaminie.