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Norrington's Bruckner
Posted by Chris Howell on September 19, 2021, 11:45 am
Richard Masters, in his review of Norrington's Bruckner box, notes: To use an American phrase, Norrington “books it” in every one of these symphonies. The English conductor’s Sixth Symphony flies by in a cool 51 minutes, 11 seconds. To compare to a few other performances of the Nowak edition, Wolfgang Sawallisch clocks in at 57’41”, while Günter Wand offers a similar timing at 57’33”. As I pointed out in my article "Bruckner’s Sixth Symphony - Some performances that got away and some thoughts on tempi" http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2018/Jan/Bruckner_sy6_article_CH.pdf, there is a certain tradition for swift tempi in Bruckner that may even go back to the composer. Carl Melles remains the one who really "books it" at 46:13 (no cuts, Nowak/Haas is not an issue in this symphony), but such noted Brucknerians of the past as Volkmar Andrae are barely over the 51-minute mark. These all ofer a rather different style of bruckner playing, of course (and don't eschew vibrato).
Re: Norrington's Bruckner
Posted by John Proffitt on September 19, 2021, 4:13 pm, in reply to "Norrington's Bruckner"
I find little, if any, redeeming value in Norrington's dry, desiccated, mechanical, and thoroughly (to me) *unmusical" approach to Bruckner.
Previous Message
Richard Masters, in his review of Norrington's Bruckner box, notes: To use an American phrase, Norrington “books it” in every one of these symphonies. The English conductor’s Sixth Symphony flies by in a cool 51 minutes, 11 seconds. To compare to a few other performances of the Nowak edition, Wolfgang Sawallisch clocks in at 57’41”, while Günter Wand offers a similar timing at 57’33”. As I pointed out in my article "Bruckner’s Sixth Symphony - Some performances that got away and some thoughts on tempi" http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2018/Jan/Bruckner_sy6_article_CH.pdf , there is a certain tradition for swift tempi in Bruckner that may even go back to the composer. Carl Melles remains the one who really "books it" at 46:13 (no cuts, Nowak/Haas is not an issue in this symphony), but such noted Brucknerians of the past as Volkmar Andrae are barely over the 51-minute mark. These all ofer a rather different style of bruckner playing, of course (and don't eschew vibrato).
54.00 Welser-Moest/Bavarian Radio 54:13 Albrecht 54.15 Stein 54.17 Haitink/Bavarian Radio 54.17 Wand/NDR 54.18 Jansons/Berlin 54.36 Bolton 54.36 Downes/BBC Phil 54.37 Pletnev 54.37 Young 54.43 Janowski/Berlin 54.46 Barenboim/Berlin Phil 54.51 Sawallisch 54.54 Klemperer/Philharmonia
Previous Message
Richard Masters, in his review of Norrington's Bruckner box, notes: To use an American phrase, Norrington “books it” in every one of these symphonies. The English conductor’s Sixth Symphony flies by in a cool 51 minutes, 11 seconds. To compare to a few other performances of the Nowak edition, Wolfgang Sawallisch clocks in at 57’41”, while Günter Wand offers a similar timing at 57’33”. As I pointed out in my article "Bruckner’s Sixth Symphony - Some performances that got away and some thoughts on tempi" http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2018/Jan/Bruckner_sy6_article_CH.pdf , there is a certain tradition for swift tempi in Bruckner that may even go back to the composer. Carl Melles remains the one who really "books it" at 46:13 (no cuts, Nowak/Haas is not an issue in this symphony), but such noted Brucknerians of the past as Volkmar Andrae are barely over the 51-minute mark. These all ofer a rather different style of bruckner playing, of course (and don't eschew vibrato).