Dec 9, 2011

Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 "Romantic" (SACD review)

Bernard Haitink, London Symphony Orchestra. LSO Live SACD LS00716.

Maybe because I've been collecting recordings by Maestro Bernard Haitink for nearly fifty years, ever since his appointment as chief conductor of the Concertgebouw Orchestra in the early Sixties, to find the man still conducting, now in his eighties, is fascinating and reassuring. It's nice to know some things don't change. More important, I've always found Haitink's performances models of decorum, propriety, insight, and intelligence. They wear well.

In this 2011 SACD recording with the London Symphony Orchestra, Haitink tackles the Symphony No. 4 in E flat major, "Romantic," by Austrian composer Anton Bruckner (1824-1896). The fact that Haitink has recorded the Fourth Symphony at least twice before--in the 1960's with the Concertgebouw and in the mid 80's with the Vienna Philharmonic--only whetted my appetite for more of the same. The newest performance did not entirely disappoint me, although I have to admit that the conductor's approach has mellowed with age. It's no less thoughtful or intense; it just sounds slower.

Anyway, the Fourth Symphony was Bruckner's first really successful big-scale work, and it didn't come easy. The public greeted his first three symphonies with a lukewarm response, and it took the composer over half a dozen years to write and revise the Fourth. Fortunately, when he did finally premiere it 1881, the public loved it, as listeners have loved it ever since. Bruckner himself nicknamed it "Romantic," and it became Bruckner's only program symphony. His final revision came in 1886, the Nowak edition, which Haitink plays here. The composer tells us what each movement represents, from knights riding out of a medieval castle through the mists of dawn to the sounds of the forest and birds, to a hunt, complete with horn calls, finally culminating in a brilliant summation. The symphony easily communicates a grandeur and nobility of spirit, as Bruckner was, above all, a profoundly spiritual man, his music clearly illustrating his piety.

Haitink opens this Fourth more quietly than usual, even for him, the morning haze finally opening up and letting the horn calls of the knights burst forth. However, Haitink eschews much glamor or theatrics here, preferring a more unhurried approach; yet I'm not really sure I like the "Romantic" Symphony without all of the romance. Don't expect as much robust vigor in Haitink's approach as in the readings of many of his rivals. Nevertheless, Haitink handles the softer, gentler passages with great care, making them seem more otherworldly than ever.

The LSO play with their customary precision and refinement, which goes a long way in music that can often be so ethereal and uplifting as Bruckner's. And when the orchestra get a chance to come into full bloom in the biggest crescendos and fortissimos, they sound wonderful, especially with Haitink guiding them so evenhandedly.

Indeed, Haitink walks a fine line here between offering up simple programmatic themes and darker, more introspective reflections, with the conductor often taking the latter course. In the tradition of Beethoven, Bruckner makes his slow movement almost a funeral march, yet Haitink doesn't exactly see it that way, creating instead a more-elegant flow to the music.

Again, we hear the hunting calls of the horns in the Scherzo, and Haitink seems to enjoy the playfulness as well as the seriousness of their strains. Then, typical of a Bruckner symphony, the finale is monumental, climaxing and surpassing everything that went before it. Needless to say, Haitink lets what little hair down he has left and presents a radiantly exciting conclusion.

In all, this is an agreeable Fourth, even if it's not for me quite on the level emotionally as the recordings of Jochum (DG), Klemperer (EMI), Bohm (Decca), Blomstedt (Denon), Wand (RCA), Walter (Sony), or Haitink's own earlier efforts. However, this newer performance should not disappoint fans of Haitink or the LSO.

Recorded live in June, 2011 at the Barbican, London, the output of the SACD seemed relatively low at first, requiring some adjustment of the volume higher than usual. But, then, there is a very wide dynamic range involved, starting with an especially soft opening passage, and when the loudest notes come through, they do so with authority. And there are blasts that may force one to turn the volume back down. A modest disappointment is that the midrange is not as transparent as it might be, with some upper-bass resonance to contend with. The upper strings can also be a tad steely at times. Still, the sonics make for a thrilling experience, the orchestra sounding big, warm, full, and basically resplendent.

About the only other minor issue I noticed was that the stage depth seemed slightly limited in the two-channel format to which I listened. If you have the SACD playback equipment for multichannel, which I don't, this hybrid SACD would probably provide more depth in the surround mode. Besides, I don't want to overemphasize this trivial lack of dimensionality at times because it's really no different from most other modern recordings. Moreover, the recording's strong dynamic impact and taut bass go a long way toward dispelling any misgivings one may have about small imaging concerns.

Finally, I'm happy to report that despite this being a live recording, the engineers have apparently filtered out most audience noise and thankfully edited out any closing applause.

JJP

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Meet the Staff

Meet the Staff
John J. Puccio, Founder and Contributor

Understand, I'm just an everyday guy reacting to something I love. And I've been doing it for a very long time, my appreciation for classical music starting with the musical excerpts on the Big Jon and Sparkie radio show in the early Fifties and the purchase of my first recording, The 101 Strings Play the Classics, around 1956. In the late Sixties I began teaching high school English and Film Studies as well as becoming interested in hi-fi, my audio ambitions graduating me from a pair of AR-3 speakers to the Fulton J's recommended by The Stereophile's J. Gordon Holt. In the early Seventies, I began writing for a number of audio magazines, including Audio Excellence, Audio Forum, The Boston Audio Society Speaker, The American Record Guide, and from 1976 until 2008, The $ensible Sound, for which I served as Classical Music Editor.

Today, I'm retired from teaching and use a pair of bi-amped VMPS RM40s loudspeakers for my listening. In addition to writing for the Classical Candor blog, I served as the Movie Review Editor for the Web site Movie Metropolis (formerly DVDTown) from 1997-2013. Music and movies. Life couldn't be better.

Karl Nehring, Editor and Contributor

For nearly 30 years I was the editor of The $ensible Sound magazine and a regular contributor to both its equipment and recordings review pages. I would not presume to present myself as some sort of expert on music, but I have a deep love for and appreciation of many types of music, "classical" especially, and have listened to thousands of recordings over the years, many of which still line the walls of my listening room (and occasionally spill onto the furniture and floor, much to the chagrin of my long-suffering wife). I have always taken the approach as a reviewer that what I am trying to do is simply to point out to readers that I have come across a recording that I have found of interest, a recording that I think they might appreciate my having pointed out to them. I suppose that sounds a bit simple-minded, but I know I appreciate reading reviews by others that do the same for me — point out recordings that they think I might enjoy.

For readers who might be wondering about what kind of system I am using to do my listening, I should probably point out that I do a LOT of music listening and employ a variety of means to do so in a variety of environments, as I would imagine many music lovers also do. Starting at the more grandiose end of the scale, the system in which I do my most serious listening comprises Marantz CD 6007 and Onkyo CD 7030 CD players, NAD C 658 streaming preamp/DAC, Legacy Audio PowerBloc2 amplifier, and a pair of Legacy Audio Focus SE loudspeakers. I occasionally do some listening through pair of Sennheiser 560S headphones. I miss the excellent ELS Studio sound system in our 2016 Acura RDX (now my wife's daily driver) on which I had ripped more than a hundred favorite CDs to the hard drive, so now when driving my 2024 Honda CRV Sport L Hybrid, I stream music from my phone through its adequate but hardly outstanding factory system. For more casual listening at home when I am not in my listening room, I often stream music through a Roku Streambar Pro system (soundbar plus four surround speakers and a 10" sealed subwoofer) that has surprisingly nice sound for such a diminutive physical presence and reasonable price. Finally, at the least grandiose end of the scale, I have an Ultimate Ears Wonderboom II Bluetooth speaker and a pair of Google Pro Earbuds for those occasions where I am somewhere by myself without a sound system but in desperate need of a musical fix. I just can’t imagine life without music and I am humbly grateful for the technologies that enable us to enjoy it in so many wonderful ways.

William (Bill) Heck, Webmaster and Contributor

Among my early childhood memories are those of listening to my mother playing records (some even 78 rpm ones!) of both classical music and jazz tunes. I suppose that her love of music was transmitted genetically, and my interest was sustained by years of playing in rock bands – until I realized that this was no way to make a living. The interest in classical music was rekindled in grad school when the university FM station serving as background music for studying happened to play the Brahms First Symphony. As the work came to an end, it struck me forcibly that this was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard, and from that point on, I never looked back. This revelation was to the detriment of my studies, as I subsequently spent way too much time simply listening, but music has remained a significant part of my life. These days, although I still can tell a trumpet from a bassoon and a quarter note from a treble clef, I have to admit that I remain a nonexpert. But I do love music in general and classical music in particular, and I enjoy sharing both information and opinions about it.

The audiophile bug bit about the same time that I returned to classical music. I’ve gone through plenty of equipment, brands from Audio Research to Yamaha, and the best of it has opened new audio insights. Along the way, I reviewed components, and occasionally recordings, for The $ensible Sound magazine. Most recently I’ve moved to my “ultimate system” consisting of a BlueSound Node streamer, an ancient Toshiba multi-format disk player serving as a CD transport, Legacy Wavelet II DAC/preamp/crossover, dual Legacy PowerBloc2 amps, and Legacy Signature SE speakers (biamped), all connected with decently made, no-frills cables. With the arrival of CD and higher resolution streaming, that is now the source for most of my listening.

Ryan Ross, Contributor

I started listening to and studying classical music in earnest nearly three decades ago. This interest grew naturally out of my training as a pianist. I am now a musicologist by profession, specializing in British and other symphonic music of the 19th and 20th centuries. My scholarly work has been published in major music journals, as well as in other outlets. Current research focuses include twentieth-century symphonic historiography, and the music of Jean Sibelius, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Malcolm Arnold.

I am honored to contribute writings to Classical Candor. In an age where the classical recording industry is being subjected to such profound pressures and changes, it is more important than ever for those of us steeped in this cultural tradition to continue to foster its love and exposure. I hope that my readers can find value, no matter how modest, in what I offer here.


Bryan Geyer, Technical Analyst

I initially embraced classical music in 1954 when I mistuned my car radio and heard the Heifetz recording of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto. That inspired me to board the new "hi-fi" DIY bandwagon. In 1957 I joined one of the pioneer semiconductor makers and spent the next 32 years marketing transistors and microcircuits to military contractors. Home audio DIY projects remained a personal passion until 1989 when we created our own new photography equipment company. I later (2012) revived my interest in two channel audio when we "downsized" our life and determined that mini-monitors + paired subwoofers were a great way to mate fine music with the space constraints of condo living.

Visitors that view my technical papers on this site may wonder why they appear here, rather than on a site that features audio equipment reviews. My reason is that I tried the latter, and prefer to publish for people who actually want to listen to music; not to equipment. My focus is in describing what's technically beneficial to assure that the sound of the system will accurately replicate the source input signal (i. e. exhibit high accuracy) without inordinate cost and complexity. Conversely, most of the audiophiles of today strive to achieve sound that's euphonic, i.e. be personally satisfying. In essence, audiophiles seek sound that's consistent with their desire; the music is simply a test signal.

Mission Statement

It is the goal of Classical Candor to promote the enjoyment of classical music. Other forms of music come and go--minuets, waltzes, ragtime, blues, jazz, bebop, country-western, rock-'n'-roll, heavy metal, rap, and the rest--but classical music has been around for hundreds of years and will continue to be around for hundreds more. It's no accident that every major city in the world has one or more symphony orchestras.

When I was young, I heard it said that only intellectuals could appreciate classical music, that it required dedicated concentration to appreciate. Nonsense. I'm no intellectual, and I've always loved classical music. Anyone who's ever seen and enjoyed Disney's Fantasia or a Looney Tunes cartoon playing Rossini's William Tell Overture or Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 can attest to the power and joy of classical music, and that's just about everybody.

So, if Classical Candor can expand one's awareness of classical music and bring more joy to one's life, more power to it. It's done its job. --John J. Puccio

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"Their Master's Voice" by Michael Sowa

"Their Master's Voice" by Michael Sowa