Anton Bruckner
Symphony No. 3 in d-minor
German Symphony Orchestra Berlin
Riccardo Chailly
It is possible that my friend, with whom I am undertaking this tour of all of Bruckner’s symphonies, forced my hand a bit when he commented recently that “Bruckner really turned a corner in No. 3,” but now that he did, I find it impossible to see the work in any other light.
The opening movement starts with some trademark over-the-top brass, but we get some weirdness as early as 1:13 in — there is something unsettling here in both brass and strings. The passage at 3:10, albeit brief, sounds almost modernist, especially in the strings, and by the four-minute mark or so, Bruckner prefigures Mahler in no uncertain terms — slow and pastoral, yet with a lot of tension. Shortly after — no more than a dozen bars, maybe less — the music gets downright spooky, the first expression of the movement’s subtitle of Misterioso. A couple of minutes later, there are some pretty wild intervals between strings and oboe (and, a bit later, horn) — Bruckner had certainly not scored anything this bold in any of the previous symphonies. The unsettled feeling continues to a greater or lesser degree for the rest of the movement, culminating in some real harmonic ambiguity towards the end, at 15:54 and again at 16:20, where Bruckner hints more at Debussy of La Mer than anything I know of Mahler, much less of Bruckner’s contemporaries. He even plays with rhythm in ways he hasn’t up until this point — is that a bolero around the 18-minute mark? To be sure, there is some patented Bruckner moments, too — the obnoxious climax at 11:00 followed by some anthemic chest-thumping, short but gorgeous horn and flute solos throughout, and an organic way he reworks the material of the opening themes in the second half of the movement. But the gauntlet has been laid.
The Adagio is not as dramatic a departure from earlier slow movements: an expansive opening, lots of lush drama throughout, both in the dynamics and the harmonies, lots of beautiful horn writing — the instrument really carries the movement. But even here, we get unsettled by the oboe and strings at the end of the first minute, albeit briefly, then again by the strings at 2:55. There is rhythmic weirdness, too — I’m not sure what’s happening at 4:25, but it sounds as if the record skipped a couple of times… except I was listening on CD. Finally, we get a seriously dissonant climax at 9:11 that will startle even the most absent-minded listener. It seems that Bruckner has left the old, beautiful-but-predictable Adagios of earlier symphonies behind for good.
The Scherzo brings its own flavor of surprises. After a characteristically brash opening, the second theme is a fast and very un-Brucknerian waltz. And the Trio, again fairly long here, just like it was in No. 2, is also a waltz, slower and almost Straussian in feel. Not entirely, of course — there is stuff here that Strauss neither could, nor needed to, write. But the overall feel is unmistakably mid-19th-century Vienna.
There are more contrasts in the Finale. After a bombastic opening (is Bruckner capable of any other kind?), the second theme is sweet, almost saccharine, built from the material of the waltz from the Scherzo, but in duple time. Tricky. The unaccompanied horn chorale is a pleasant surprise and an effective transition device, and after a false start or two, things get going and go to a much darker place, on average, than anything that came before, opening movement included. There is more development in the second half, another brass chorale, a new theme, a recap of the “sweet” motif, and some other stuff besides. The ending, though, is massively huge and unambiguous. The overwhelming force of whatever un-namable thing inspires Bruckner has triumphed over, well, pretty much everything.
Tuesday, February 9, 2021
Bruckner: Turning the Corner
Saturday, January 23, 2021
Bruckner: The Safe Symphony
If we had to nickname Bruckner’s Second Symphony, the way Beethoven’s Sixth got nicknamed “Pastoral” somewhere along the line, I might suggest “Safe,” but that is not as bad as it sounds. Perhaps Bruckner was looking for more popular and critical acclaim after the relative adventurousness of the First. The first movement opens in an anthemic, expansive fashion. Unusually, Bruckner gives short solos to the flute and clarinet as early as 1:45, but by and large there is no adventure here. The second theme is also very expansive and pastoral (speaking of pastoral things), and also with no tension, except maybe a hint at 3:50. The movement builds steadily, with nice parts for oboe, bassoon and, once again, flute — clearly one of Bruckner’s favorite instruments. Horn introduces a new section around 6:00 which starts to develop the opening theme’s material, but again with no unusual harmony or dissonance to speak of. There is a triumphant climax at 7:40, followed by some nice melodic passages for winds. A lush melody starting around 12:50 or so foreshadows later movements, and the section at 15:00 has, like bits in the previous symphony, something Russian about it. The whole movement is very even-keeled, especially in the second half, and, on the whole, dare I say it, a little boring.
The Adagio movement is full of melancholy beauty right off the bat, but we finally get a bit of dissonance at 1:48 in the way the solo violin is set against the strings. This doesn’t last, however, and the horn theme at 2:50 is the basis for the rest of the movement. The climax around 5:58 sounds very cinematic to my ear, and would work very well in a film soundtrack. There is a new major-key theme starting at 12:00, and what little real harmonic tension there is in the movement, it is here. By the 15:00 mark, we’re back at the opening theme. Safe though it is, the whole movement is gorgeous. It may not make you think, but check your pulse if it doesn’t make you feel something.
The Scherzo is energetic and, unlike in the First, the Trio section is obvious — it starts at 3:38. It is pleasant, if somewhat repetitive, and surprisingly long. There is a straight restatement of the opening theme at 7:35, but in the closing section Bruckner works in bits of the Trio material in an organic and subtle way. One of the more pleasant surprises of the whole work.
Like the earlier movements, the Finale is full of lush consonance from the get-go, opening with a triumphant theme that is very Beethovenian in spirit, and a little in content, too. The second theme is again very pastoral and a dramatic contrast to the opening — clearly a thing with Bruckner. After the extremely slow section at 5:10, there is finally some real harmonic tension in the strings starting around 6:25 or so. The middle section is mostly slow and lush, with attractively prominent wind parts, and there is something about the Bruckner’s orchestral colors here that to my ear looks ahead to Mahler. Finally, things begin to sound as if Bruckner decided that if the audience has lasted this long, they’ll stay to the end, and starts to experiment with some interesting harmonies at 12:27 and some previously absent chromaticism around 14:00. The brass chorale at 16:14 if gorgeous and unexpected, and thus very effective. Brahms would do something similar later. There is ass-kicking brass in the final recap before the symphony closes with a highly triumphant, unabashedly major-key finale.
