Anton Bruckner (1824-1896) Symphony No. 7 in E major
Concertmaster: Florian Zwiauer Wiener Symphoniker
Conducted by Yakov
Kreizberg
PTC 5186 051 DSD recorded
The
breakthrough
What must drive a composer to vehemently refuse to allow one of his works – which
has already enjoyed a tremendously successful première – to be
performed again, in fact, to himself use sharp words to protest an already
scheduled concert? The answer is not so difficult to find in late nineteenth-century
Vienna: he fears the equally famous and notorious Eduard Hanslick, the most
important critic of the time. Anton Bruckner feared Hanslick, and he was right
to do so: after all, the critic had turned into an antagonist, whose opinion
and, especially, enormous influence could crush the career of a composer in
the bud. But in 1884, the 60-year-old Bruckner was by no stretch of the imagination
a young pup, besides which, he had already written six symphonic works. However,
so far none of these had been a sweeping success in Vienna, where he had chosen
to make his home (in fact, the première of the Symphony No. 3 could
be termed nothing less than a fiasco).
Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 in E, written between 1881 and 1883, changed
his life for the better. It was the breakthrough that brought him to public
attention, and immediately won him the status of “musical authority”:
someone to whom from now onwards people would defer, whom they would respect.
What had happened? In February 1884, two of Bruckner’s students, Franz
and Josef Schalk, had presented the symphony to the Leipzig Kapellmeister Artur
Nikisch in an arrangement for piano duet, and thus won him over to the work.
Not only had Nikisch been a violinist in the Vienna Court Opera Orchestra at
the première of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 2, but he also kept an
open mind towards contemporary music. Hermann Levi, who was Hofkapellmeister
in Munich, also promised to help to schedule a performance of the work: “By
the day of the concert, half the town will already know exactly who Herr Bruckner
is, whereas up until now – to our great shame, I must admit – no
one was even aware of the composer, including the undersigned.” The première
was delayed for a further few months; however, when it finally took place on
December 30, 1884, under conductor Nikisch at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, it turned
out to be an enormous success for Bruckner. This was followed on March 10,
1885, by a wildly acclaimed performance under Levi in Munich. Only the plans
for performances in Vienna were thwarted by Bruckner, for the reasons mentioned
above: “I protest against the performance of my Symphony No. 7. There
is no point in staging it in Vienna, due to the presence of Hanslick and his
consorts.” In fact, it was another entire year – after the symphony
had already appeared in print – before the work was finally performed
in Vienna on March 21, 1886. The following is an excerpt from Hanslick’s
notorious “guillotine” verdict: “I frankly confess that it
would be almost impossible for me to judge Bruckner’s symphony with any
fairness, as it seems to me to be so unnatural, self-important, morbid and
twisted.” He goes on to describe the work as “a pièce de
résistance” and “a symphonic boa constrictor”: terms
which completely dumbfound the modern listener. Therefore, it would seem appropriate
to take a general look at Bruckner’s symphonies, in order to better classify
Hanslick’s judgment.
The temporal dimensions of Bruckner’s symphonies are at least twice the
size of those of the traditional work in the genre. This is due to his enormous
expansion of the form – only the first and last movements are written
in the traditional sonata form. Apart from the traditional contrast between
first theme and second theme, Bruckner introduces a third, yet again contrasting
theme by reassessing the final section, which is often a chorale. He now expands
these three themes into independent theme groups or theme complexes, which
are then subjected to diverse changes in the development: however, not always
in the sense of strict thematic development, but more in view of their further
employability within the symphonic cycle. A novelty in Bruckner’s music
is the continuous development of intensification, which overruns the structure
of the movements like waves, until finally leading to the breakthrough of the
theme, a key concept in Bruckner’s symphonic works. Bruckner combines
the following elements (often simultaneously) to achieve this process of intensification:
through contraction of the rhythm, the themes are compressed and accelerated,
accompanied by tremendous dynamic increases, which are once again intensified
by sequencing regular harmonic models. The structural intensification is frequently
cut off in a surprising – and apparently incomplete – manner, before
a renewed attempt is undertaken to ascend the dynamic summit – “potenzierte
Wiederholung” (= increased repetition). If one were to portray these
dynamics with the aid of an acoustic seismograph, the needle would jump in
constant agitation from ppp to fff, and back again! And not in the last place,
it was this combination of temporal expansion, dynamic extremes and the large
size of the orchestra which led to the accurate labelling of Bruckner’s
symphonic style as block-like and “monumental”. In Bruckner’s
music, the striking pauses – for instance, within the themes, or at times
in between the theme complexes – are never just empty bars; rather, they
form part of the metrical structure.
In consideration of these facts, it would seem relatively safe now to interpret
Hanslick’s verdict as a defence against contemporary composers appearing
on the scene – were it not for the fact that the Symphony No. 7 contains
very definite unusual features, which clearly distinguish it from its six predecessors
and also from its two successors (and thus ensure its ranking to this day as
Bruckner’s most popular symphony). In no other symphony does Bruckner
exploit the melodic potential to such extremes. The long-lingering, cantabile
melodies (for instance, the first theme of the first movement, which stretches
over 24 bars, or the magnificent continuous intensification of the “sound-chain” in
the Adagio) and the homogeneous tonality (especially the solemn tuba theme
in the Adagio, which is reminiscent of Wagner) make the music more easily accessible
to the listener.
Over and above this compositional detailing, viewing the composition as a whole
also reveals a concept which is unique within Bruckner’s symphonic works.
As the themes of the movements in no way resemble the clearly defined and fixed
block-like creations at which Bruckner the composer would at times slave away
to the point of exhaustion, the effort required to create the intensification
as described above was far less than in other works. The comparatively short
Finale – in Bruckner’s oeuvre, the final movement was always the
designated location for rounding off the cyclical coherence of the symphony – is
thus spared any extreme outbreaks of violence (as, for instance, in his Symphony
No. 5). Towards the end, the first theme from the first movement blossoms into
splendour, outshining all else. The cycle is closed. The boa constrictor so
feared by Hanslick had set out on its inexorable journey towards the future.
Yakov
Kreizberg
The Russian-born American conductor Yakov Kreizberg currently holds
the posts of Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Netherlands Philharmonic
and Netherlands Chamber Orchestras, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Vienna
Symphony Orchestra. From 1995 to 2000 he was Principal Conductor and Artistic
Advisor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and he relinquished the post
of Generalmusikdirector of the Komische Oper Berlin at the end of the 2000/01
season.
In demand across the globe, Yakov Kreizberg has conducted orchestras such as
the Royal Concertgebouw, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Berlin Philharmonic, WDR Köln,
NDR Hamburg, Staatskapelle Dresden and BBC Symphony, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia
Orchestra, Deutsches Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin, Bayerische Rundfunk, Tonhalle
Orchestra Zürich, and he has been a frequent guest at the BBC Proms.
Within North America, Yakov Kreizberg regularly works with prestigious orchestras
including Philadelphia Orchestra (with whom he toured the Americas in 2003),
Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, the Minnesota Orchestra and he has also conducted the
Los Angeles and New York Philharmonics and Chicago and Boston Symphony Orchestras.
Forthcoming plans include a tour of Spain, Germany and Switzerland with Vienna
Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony and the Pacific Music Festival in Japan, London
Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris and Munich Philharmonic.
As well as having recorded for Decca and Oehms Classics, Yakov Kreizberg’s
collaboration with Pentatone Classics and the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra
has been extremely successful – their fourth release, Tour de France
was issued in June 2005. Also with Pentatone Classics, Mr Kreizberg has recorded
an award winning disc with Julia Fischer and the Russian National Orchestra,
whilst his first recording with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Bruckner’s
Symphony no. 7 was released in July 2005.
Mr Kreizberg established a fine reputation at the Komische Oper in a wide variety
of repertoire. Elsewhere, he has conducted for Canadian Opera, Lyric Opera
of Chicago, English National Opera and on a number of occasions with Glyndebourne
Festival Opera. He has recently conducted Iolanthe with Netherlands Opera and
will return in 2007/08 for Katya Kabanova. As part of the 2004 Bregenz FestivaI,
he conducted Weill’s Der Protagonist and Royal Palace with Vienna Symphony
Orchestra and in 2006 will conduct Macbeth at the Royal Opera House.
Born in St Petersburg, Yakov Kreizberg studied conducting privately with Ilya
A. Musin, (the renowned Professor of Conducting from the St. Petersburg Conservatory)
before emigrating to the United States in 1976. There he was awarded conducting
fellowships at Tanglewood with Bernstein, Ozawa, Leinsdorf and at the Los Angeles
Philharmonic Institute. In 1986 he won first prize in the Leopold Stokowski
Conducting Competition in New York.
“The playing of the long-drawn opening melody (which Bruckner said
came to him in a dream) suggests a conductor at ease with himself, the orchestra
and the symphony.” -Richard Osborne, Gramophone
“A sonic spectacular, music everyone should get to know like the back
of their hand, and a performance to live with in the long term. This is not
likely to be bettered in the short term and probably not even in the long
term….This disc is a must have!” --Bruce Zeisel, SA-CD.net
“I know of no superior competitors to Kreizberg on Super Audio Compact
Disc, so it stands recommended.” -Mark Jordan, Hifidelityreview.com
“The recent PHILIPS SA-CD with Seiji Ozawa and the Saito
Kinen Orchestra pales by comparison, both in performance and sound. Highly
recommended!” --Robert Benson, classicalcdreview.com
“I have seldom experienced Bruckner’s musical messages in such
tragic-monumental and passionate way.”
Stereoplay: KLANGTIPP --Attila Csampai, Stereoplay
“Mr Kreizberg is a real Brucknerian. Blomstedt made a great recording
of this symphony for Denon, but this is even better. Haitink was a tad detached
here, Karajan somewhat rushed sometimes. I would say that Kreizberg is perfect.” --Thomas
Roth, Musik & Ljudteknik
“Kreizberg’s thoughtful and superbly executed interpretation
deserves a wide hearing”
--Robert McColley, FANFARE
“Grammy” nomination (2006)
“This live recording of Bruckner's Seventh is just as distinguished.
Kreisberg draws rapturous playing from the VSO, which can stand comparison
here with the best efforts of the local Philharmonikers. He has the knack
of letting the music flow while gently asserting control before the orchestra
starts to meander…Expert engineering by Polyhymnia International.
Hearing the music in SACD multi-channel playback will encourage the notion
that the medium was invented for the express purpose of conveying the symphonies
of Anton Bruckner.” --La Scena Musicale