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| Review by akiralx January 17, 2005 (8 of 9 found this review helpful)
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This is perhaps Harnoncourt's best Bruckner recording to date, and the second on SACD (after the Ninth). The release comes on two discs - the first easily accommodating the symphony (about 73 minutes), and the second having rehearsal extracts (in German, on CD only) which I haven't yet heard.
Bruckner is a composer where performance standards and interpretation more or less go hand in hand - because a badly-played account can wreck even a fine concept. Here, the playing of the VPO is phenomenal, absolutely magnificent in every section, and perfectly balanced.
The interpretation is very fine: urgent without being excitable and with an appropriate Brucknerian spirituality. I found Harnoncourt's Ninth to be compelling but hard-edged, almost aggressive, aided (or hampered, depending on your point of view) by a recording which although vivid was rather dry, lacking something in bloom. It also makes the performance perhaps a touch literal: while Harnoncourt satisfies musically in the Ninth, Barenboim's Teldec recording (my favourite version) has a spiritual element that Harnoncourt conveys only intermittently. In this Fifth there is more nobility and greater warmth, and the climaxes, though powerful, are not flung at the listener as they often were in the Ninth Symphony.
As usual in Bruckner there is little of Harnoncourt's 'period' sensibilities, apart from an occasional 'sighing' in string phrasing where the vibrato is eased off (e.g. after 1'50 in the Adagio - where perhaps he could have let the lower strings sing out a little more). In fact there is nothing controversial or revelatory in this interpretation - as in the Ninth he takes the Trio of the Scherzo more or less 'a tempo' rather than slowing down as used to be the norm. This is just a superb account with countless imaginative touches which raise this live recording (made in June 2004) to a position among the best versions available in modern sound, at least among those I've heard (Sinopoli, Wand II and Barenboim II).
This is a very different sound from the Harnoncourt Ninth, which as I have mentioned had a slight deficit in warmth, more of a gritty power. Here nothing is lacking: sonically this SACD would be among the best I've heard in multi-channel, and as such nigh-on perfect - were it not for a very slight excess of signal to the rear channels, which on occasions sounds a little unrealistic. The upside of this is that the listener is really enveloped in a truly glorious panoply of sound.
The VPO really do play here with extraordinary power, and every facet of this score has been captured superbly. The soundstage is massively wide, as is the dynamic range. The warmth of the strings and wind soloists are vividly caught, but it is the tangible power of the brass that remain in the memory. When the orchestra are in full cry, as in the thrilling closing chorale, the results are truly wonderful from a home listening perspective. This is much more vivid than Ozawa's recent Bruckner Seventh, for example.
I would downgrade the star rating for the recording very slightly owing to the slight rear channels emphasis - but in its own way this is as rewarding listening experience as I've had from an orchestral SACD, matching the superb Chailly Mahler Ninth. Very strongly recommended.
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| Review by Daland January 31, 2005 (3 of 4 found this review helpful)
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Performance:  Sonics: |
There are only a few good recordings of Bruckner's Fifth around (Klemperer, Jochum-EMI, Wand), and this is surely not one of them. Karajan once remarked that it had taken him over 20 years to develop a feeling for the pulse of Bruckner's music. This is absolutely essential to build suspense and keep the score together. Harnoncourt is so obsessed with detail that he loses sight of the overall architecture of Bruckner's music. He is much better at explaining his approach than putting it into effect although he has one of the world's best orchestras at his disposal. The whole recording is a stop-go affair without any sense of forward momentum. The sound is not very impressive either. It lacks transparency, especially on the right side of the tonal spectrum. The dynamic range is very wide, but there is no bloom on the woodwind and the low brass instruments are presented as an undifferentiated mass. In the climactic episodes you are enveloped in sound, but you can't tell exactly where it comes from and the bass is very dry. Other labels have been more successful with recordings made at the Musikvereinssaal in Vienna.
Sonically, any recording in the RCA Living Stereo series is preferable to this one.
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| Review by brenda February 1, 2005 (6 of 8 found this review helpful)
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Performance:  Sonics: |
I find my own judgement about half way between Akiralx and Daland. Yes, as Daland says, this is a somewhat bitty reading of stops and starts. If you want pulse, turn to Karajan and if you want a supremely analytical approach that yields a different kind of interpretation, try Sinopoli ('99), an amazing performance and recording. Nonetheless, Harnoncourt has given fresh thought to the fifth and presents us not only with the most uptdate and definitive peforming version (moreson than even Sinopoli) but with a decent attempt to marry analysis and feeling. The result could only ever be a half way house, somewhat like Wand, but whereas Wand's is a satisfying blend, this new Harnoncourt isn't as satisfying as either Wand's synthesis or the other two performing tradition. However, it's still good and I'm glad to have heard it.
The sound is also about half way between Daland's and Akiralx's comments. I agree with Daland that the venue has been better treated elsewhere, but live recording, even with patching, can be a tricky business and this is a decent attempt. Unlike Akiralx I didn't find the sonics superior to the Harnoncourt 9th but its not inferior either. Its all subjective of course, I guess I prefer a less close sound than Daland does, so am happier with the recording.
Neither sound nor performance are 5 stars, but both are about four (IMHO), which makes it a disc worth hearing even if it ultimately doesn't displace Karajan or Sinopoli or Wand.
Although I do like the Symphonies, especially the 8th, and although we've had a decent Bruckner 1st mass, can we PLEASE, you producers out there, have a good surround SACD of the wonderful Mass no. 3, Psalm 150, Te Deum etc, and of the equally wonderful String Quintet. It's in the songful intimacy of the latter and the glorious choral sound of the former that we meet some of B's truest inspirations. And it's in the Choral music that I think that Harnoncourt may come in to his own, especially if he could couple the VPO with his favourite Arnold Schoenberg choir.
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| Review by Lawrence Schulman February 16, 2005 (1 of 24 found this review helpful)
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I have not yet listened to this recording, but intend to shortly. I look forward to it in that Bruckner's 5th is in my view his most spritual and grandiose symphony. I just want to say though that for me the most remarkable interpretation of this symphony is by Jochum recorded in 1964. That has always been my reference. It was remastered onto CD in 24/96 several years ago, and the sound is excellent. If the Harnoncourt version comes close to Jochum, I would be a happy fella.
LAWRENCE SCHULMAN
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| Review by peteyspambucket March 23, 2005 (6 of 7 found this review helpful)
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Performance:  Sonics: |
It's a joy to me to announce as a long-time Brucker lover that this is one of the most exciting performances I've ever heard of this piece. It is incredibly magnificent, beautifully played, and gorgeously recorded.
The first movement is a beautiful exposition of several themes that will come back in the later movements, and each pronouncement of the themes is different and sounds less like a "repeat" as it is often played. This kind of creativity is evident in the entire interpretation. The main arching theme and it's reversal sound truly organic and it's beautiful to hear how they ebb and flow from each other.
The main theme of the 2nd movement is so lovingly played and sustained, and while played faster than I'd grown accustomed, it really works, and shows Bruckner's Schubertian and Mendelssohnian roots. In Harnoncourt's hands, this music comes across as earnest and playful, rather than solemn and sanguine (which is more common).
I have never heard the pulse of the 3rd movement played as it was for this SACD, with the flute, trumpet, and timpani playing the rhythm so aggressively, and the effect is INTENSE -- it's fast and grabs you. The Landler section also has a very tight and exciting tempo. The speed of this allows you to always keep "sight" of the hauptstimme. All of this is done with a lightness and subtlety that lets the music just fly along.
The last movement is filled with wave upon wave of massive sound, and it all goes together and doesn't sound as choppy as it usually is played. I like the playfulness of the clarinet solo in its several pronouncements. I really got a strong sense of the the scale of the piece as recorded and played here because of the juxtaposition of loud and soft passages. Fans of big timpani attacks will be treated to a bunch of them here, and they never cease to thrill! I am always floored during the final brass chorale statement, when the horns embellish the theme (around 22:15). I believe it's got a "FF" dynamic in the score, and it's GREAT to hear it as written -- giving the effect that something is screaming out at the center of the orchestra to be heard and is barely audible amidst everything else blazing (like the exciting sound of a soprano singing over a large orchestra). (This is from my recollection of this passage in the score, and I have to verify this at some point...)
I found the interpretation deeply committed and exciting and at every point containing rhythmic vitality! In many ways Harnoncourt's interpretation of the 5th is more revelatory of the score's hidden beauties than his work on the Bruckner 9th (given the latter piece's greater number of exciting interpretations). Harnoncourt has certainly taken liberties with the score that have improved the piece's affect and add character to the piece that I have never heard while listening to recordings from other conductors. The new gestures that he makes are in variations to the tempi and dynamics, adding portamenti. This is easily a match and many ways a better performance than my personal favorite version from Karajan of the 70's on DG. I look forward to the continuation of this already formidable Harnoncourt Bruckner cycle, and I am eagerly awaiting the 7th, 4th, 6th, 2nd, and 8th (in order of eagerness) :-) I'm also going to start hoping that he does Te Deum, and Mass #2 and #3. It is a rare time for Brucknerians to rejoice.
The recording team have done an amazing job of capturing the sound quality in the Musikverein, which gives a wonderfully dry acoustic when there's an audience present. The soundstage is very wide and you really get a sense of width AND depth. The rear channels provide a very realistic representation of how the hall reverberates in an almost circular pattern. From what I can hear, Harnoncourt uses the traditional VPO seating with antiphonal violins and the celli and bass next to the first violins. This adds to the affect in some sections that the orchestra sounds like a giant organ, which Bruckner's music often sounds like. The incredible dynamic range of this recording makes you want to turn it up and just envelop yourself in the ravishing sound of this orchestra!
Highly Recommended and essential for any Brucknerian!
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| Review by Mr_Atlas April 22, 2005 (6 of 7 found this review helpful)
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Performance: Sonics:  |
What makes this recording so valuable is its pairing with the rehearsal sessions. The VPO are a responsive group and do not need to be told twice in order to get the effects demanded by Harnoncourt. (Often greeted with 'wunderbar! Ja, das ist recht!') However, listening to the performance, on at least two occasions they have slipped back into their auto-pilot mode. There is a crucial passage in the first movement where the road is opened up all the way to the finale. As it develops, it should modulate finely and reach a climax whilst remaining relatively calm dynamically. In their first attempt, the orchestra jog along a la Karajan and hit the buffers on a sprawling chord. With the echo emphasising all tutti stop chords, it is a fine old mess. So Harnoncourt deals with it, emphasising that clarity and restraint are required. The results in rehearsal are pointed. So I was amazed to find that their performance did not reflect this amendment.
In movement 2, there is a long concentration on the main theme and its development. Strangely, the celli are configured so that their phrasing becomes almost ostinato in character, with the result that the theme is constantly pulled about and the listener distracted. I've never heard this effect before and don't understand the logic behind it (my German isn't brilliant, but Harmoncourt seems to want to phrase it in a staccato style and quotes Knappertsbusch as his mentor. Funnily, Knappertsbusch, despite his status in late 19th Century repertoire, gives a disappointing Bruckner 5).
The scherzo is possibly the high point of the rehearsal. It has a real swing to it and the contrast in rhythm and dynamics is fascinating. The trio is not ignored either and is paced in both its tempi for maximum effect.
When we come to the performance, not all the maestro's wishes are carried out, but the playing is sublime (generally more accomplished than in rehearsal). tempi are generally slower and more meditative, until we crash into the glorious coda.
I would recommend this performance, particularly as the rehearsal is so fascinating (you do need a faint grasp of German to understand what's happening and a translation would have been a bonus). I would not rate this reading as highly as Haitink's, which gives more gravity to the slow movement or Wand's, which breathes so transparently. Jochum would be my only other challenger, not having heard Sinopoli. But Harnoncourt sits easily in this company and the effect is breathtaking.
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| Review by raffells July 15, 2005 (1 of 14 found this review helpful)
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I am only going to add to the previous revies......If the
9th of Bruckners Harrencourt is worse that this then god help it...I have numerous versions of Bruckners symphonies but none of the the 5th,,I heard the Karajan version but the vinyl is awfull.as is most of HVK on DGG vinyl ...However If anyone new to Bruckner thinks after hearing 7 8 9 (not by this conducter) and is lucky to hear a decent 4 .Then STAY AWAY from this 5...Its typical of a a limited composer/organist who is no match for Mahler in orchestration or composition..It doest help that the recording quality is ...obscure expecially the strings...Good points are the ending which couldnt come quickly enough.As regards the spare CD rehersal...almost a frizby equal to the main disc... Good points...It comes in a double sacd case...Ebay item.....quickly.....Dave
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Sonics: 
