Bruckner 6: Kristjan Järvi / Tonkünstler Orchester NÖ – Vienna 18/11/08 (in English)

[Choo Choo]

Timings: 13:27, 15:09, 7:52, 12:16

Nielsen and Bruckner. It was sometimes said of Karajan – and not meant as a compliment – that he conducted the music of Nielsen as if it were by Bruckner. Whereas, earlier this year in Amsterdam, I had the reverse experience – hearing Bruckner’s 6th Symphony performed exactly as if it had been written by Nielsen. The surprising thing is that, apart from the tag “romantic” being loosely applied to both, there are not that many lines of congruence between these two distinctive, highly characterised composers, and in the normal run of things not that easy to mistake for one another.

Now here was a programme containing one work by each: Nielsen’s Violin Concerto, followed by (again) Bruckner’s 6th Symphony, and no way of knowing beforehand what if any implied message lay behind the choice: should we expect Nielsen-as-Bruckner, or vice versa, or was the point of the coupling to create a contrast?

In the end, what we heard was faithful to the different styles and characters of the two composers, yet not entirely satisfactory in the treatment of either. The Nielsen was short on lyricism, and strain was evident at times in the dialogue between soloist Antje Weithaas and orchestra. Anyone not already an enthusiast for this taut and demanding piece was unlikely to have been converted by this edgy and strenuous – albeit authentic – performance.

As for the Bruckner – timings are not everything, I know – but under 49 minutes from start to finish tells you this was way too fast. As usual, the problem was in the outer movements, particularly the first – indeed, there was very nearly a pile-up right at the start: Järvi hopped onto the podium and swung into the first downbeat before anyone, including the orchestra, had time to draw breath – and then set off at an unfeasibly fast sprint, with the orchestra scrabbling valiantly to keep up. I really do not understand why people feel the need to do this: the score is clearly marked Majestoso, not Presto, and audibly the music suffers – yet this seems to be such common practice nowadays, it is virtually a new orthodoxy.

Fortunately things calmed down as the movement progressed, and mostly established a convincingly Brucknerian narrative, apart from an unusual accelerando required to get back up to high speed for the return of the first subject, which then undermined some of the good work which had been done in the interim.

The Adagio, by contrast, was nicely balanced throughout. Though probably still too fast for those of the slower-is-always-better persuasion, Järvi established a nice, easy, flowing line, which he was very ready to stretch at some points, whilst tightening up in others. Overall the music sang out clearly – and continued to do so through the Scherzo and Trio, in a calm and measured style.

Predictably, the hurry returned with the Finale, but to a happily less frantic extent. Although it was still a lot quicker than it needs to be, the integration was far better than in the first movement, as it swept vigorously through its various episodes, to reach a satisfactory and stirring conclusion.

This was a performance which got (a lot) better as it went on. The Tonkünstler Orchester Niederösterreich – Vienna’s “third” orchestra – had a good tone, particularly in the brass – and, apart from the initial scramble, exhibited good timing. Yet, even allowing for the unhelpful excessive speed in the outer movements, there was not much inspiration in this performance. The interpretation never rose much above the plane of the literal, with a minimum of inflection, and even where the execution was at its best, in the inner movements, still there was little that was distinctive. On the evidence of this outing, Kristjan Järvi certainly knows the difference between Nielsen and Bruckner, but has yet to find his voice in either.

[Ken Ward]

Goodness me! That's even quicker than Norrington!
It seems the race is on now: who can play Bruckner quickest...

[Albert]

Perhaps the conductors have to hurry to catch the airplane for the next concert ?

[Wolfgang]

...und dabei mag ich Bruckners Musik am liebsten schön langsam - so wie bei Celibidache oder Peter Jan Marthé!

Gruß Wolfgang