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After Krisjan's lukewarm endorsal of this new PentaTone, I remind folks of the existence of
Bruckner: Symphony No. 6 - Blomstedt
It may suit some better than the Janowski. I have the Janowski, I think I am happier with it than he. Never-the-less, I do not find it to have a certain magic that I associate with my old Klemperer on an Angel LP. There is a certain way of phrasing the trumpet/horn solos of the first movement that when done like the Klemperer, transports me however temporarily to another better place. No other LP CD or SACD so far has had that effect, certainly not the Solti! - Nor did a live performance a couple years ago in Symphony Hall by the Boston Symphony, I forget which guest conductor.
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So, Bruce you have the Blomstedt, but haven't said much about it. I know you have the Albrecht.
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Post by krisjan October 7, 2009 (3 of 20)
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Bruce - I did in fact rate it 4 stars for performance so it was far from being mediocre. It just didn't reach any pinnacles for me. I would appreciate hearing your comments about the Blomstedt - he's a conductor I generally admire but I haven't heard his Bruckner.
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It will take a little while, but perhaps I will get to listen to it tomorrow along with the Fry Street Quartet Beethoven to refresh my memory of it.
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Post by hiredfox October 8, 2009 (5 of 20)
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krisjan said:
Bruce - I did in fact rate it 4 stars for performance so it was far from being mediocre. It just didn't reach any pinnacles for me. I would appreciate hearing your comments about the Blomstedt - he's a conductor I generally admire but I haven't heard his Bruckner.
Bear in mind that the Sixth is never exceptional even with highly touted recordings. Herr Bruckner was not that sort of chap. I guess rustic and laborious go together?
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Post by Peter October 8, 2009 (6 of 20)
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hiredfox said:
Bear in mind that the Sixth is never exceptional even with highly touted recordings.
Really? My God! I've been so wrong all these years............
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Windsurfer said:
It will take a little while, but perhaps I will get to listen to it tomorrow along with the Fry Street Quartet Beethoven to refresh my memory of it.
A friend visited and we listened to the Fry Street Quartet's Beethoven.
We also listened to the new PentaTone Alpine Symphony with great satisfaction, both of us finding it a fine performance in excellent sound.
Finally We listened to 3 versions of Bruckner's Symphony 6. By a small amount he preferred the Blomstedt, while I gave the thumbs up to the Janowski, but again not by much! I think the Janowski is a little smoother sounding, less rough around the edges. Blomstedt however, has a fine grasp of the Bruckner 6th and my preference could easily go either way - I am glad I have both! Blomstedt phrases certain passages with a way of sort of "leaning into the music dynamically initiating a phrase with pianissimo grading in loudness to create tension in a way the other two do not. The Albrecht on Exton is a non contender in this company. He rushes certain passages and I guess that one thing you really should not do to Bruckner is rush him! Further the reverberant nature of the hall - or the engineers messing around with the sound for MCH - this sound did Bruckner no favors.
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Bruce, let me remind you what you said about Albrecht before. Tastes often change and that's ok:
Post by Windsurfer May 17, 2007 (6 of 15)
Well I just got it and I will only add to what you said by saying I would subtract only a quarter of a star because of the (its not that bad!)overly reverberant sound.
This was a disc I really reveled in listening to. My old time favorite of this was the Klemperer stereo recording from the sixties. If you liked that one friends, I predict you will love this ... Glorious performance and recording!
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flyingdutchman said:
Bruce, let me remind you what you said about Albrecht before. Tastes often change and that's ok:
Aah well, (BTW thank you for pointing this out!)I wonder if I will ever learn to temper my enthusiasm over a new recording? At least the same thing bothered me then as now, concerning the sound, but I seem more sensitive now to overly reverberant sound than I was only two years ago.
I kind of think now, on reflection, that I was uncritical of the pacing then because I had no direct reference for comparison, my analog system being in storage (and continuing to be in storage). Now with two new SACDs I cannot remain quite so uncritical. Also I will admit to not having even listened to the entire first of the Albrecht movement this morning, so put off I was with the sound... and anxious to get into the Blomsted and Janowski recordings.
We enjoyed ourselves... I made the above post more or less at Krisjan's request concerning my thoughts on the Blomstedt.
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Post by krisjan October 8, 2009 (10 of 20)
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Windsurfer said:
I made the above post more or less at Krisjan's request concerning my thoughts on the Blomstedt.
Thanks for your thoughts.
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