Bruckner - Symphony No.1; Helgoland

Anton Bruckner (1824-1896)

Symphony No. 1 in C Minor (Linz version)

'Helgoland' Symphonic Chorus For Male Voices And Orchestra

Berliner Philharmoniker

Daniel Barenboim 

This is a top notch performance of some early Bruckner and a pratically unknown later piece. The first symphony, while not mature Bruckner, is still a good piece. This performance has all the essential qualities that you need in a performance of anything by Bruckner inclunding powerful brass and timpani. Barenboim shapes the Adagio very well. The filler piece is actually of greater interest then the main piece. The piece is called Helgoland and is set for Male Chorus and Orchestra. The words are a ballad by August Silberstein. The notes say that Bruckner rankes this along with his String Quartet, Masses, Te Deum, and 9 symphonies as one of his most important compositions. He stopped to compose it while composing the Ninth symphony. It is acutally his last completed work. Even if you have a performance of the 1st, get this disc for the Helgoland. If you don't, you'll have an excellent performance of the 1st symphony along with a rarely recorded piece. And Teldec's digital sound is exceptional. I'm definately gonna be getting more Bruckner for Barenboim and Berlin. Great disc.

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This is basically an excellent performance of the First Symphony, featuring sonorous and beautifully turned orchestral playing and excellent wide ranging sound engineering. Barenboim's tempos seem very apropos, and the work definitely moves along without longeurs or haste. My only reservation is that the performance seems to lack the naivete that is crucial to Bruckner's ethos in Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2. In a way, Barenboim's interpretation looks back on the First Symphony from the dramatic heights of the Eighth. The phrasing is somewhat inelastic and streamlined. After all, this work is the work of the Linz Bruckner, prior to his immersion in the musical life of Vienna. Too often, I just feel that Barenboim fails to stop in wonder at the musical landscape. If you can find it, I would recomment Vaclav Neumann's recording with the Leipzig Gewandhaus, which I have on LP, as a tonic to Barenboim's more boisterous interpretation. As for Helgoland, it is an agreeable work captured here in less warm and detailed sound, from four years earlier (1992) than the symphony. Nevertheless, Barenboim's First is worth hearing. I would be interested in how his earlier Chicago recording of it compares with the Berlin. His Chicago recordings of 4, 7, and 9 are nearly ideal.