Barenboim, Chicago Symphony Orchestra: I hadn't set my expectations very high on that one. I know and love his Chicago versions of 4 and 9, but was rather more skeptical of 5 and 6. Well, in this instance, apart from one grievous mistake from Barenboim, this is spectacularly good. Just about everything in it deserves praise, but two elements should be singled out: Barenboim's mastery of phrasing, using totally natural tempos and the right kind of balances within musical paragraphs. Making Bruckner's music breathe naturally is the secret of great interpretations. Of course it works especially when 'normal' tempos are used (timings of, say, 74-82 minutes). But that's hard to define. Slow or fast can work very well just about everywhere in the 8th. Extremes rarely do Bruckner justice. Second, the Chicago orchestra is simply awesome: in volume, in depth of tone, in purity of intonation, in balance between sections, in brilliance, it has - and displays - everything. The formidable brass section that can be such a liablility under Solti is here balanced (by the conductor? the engineers?) by the splendid mass of strings: dense, warm yet endowed with a superb sheen. Beautiful wwinds, too - particular praise to the truly glorious first oboe .
Barenboim's one mistake comes at the very end. Midway through the coda it's as if the gas pedal suddenly got stuck to the bottom. The frenzy that ensues is jawdropping - in the wrong sense. The producer should have taken the conductor for a coffee to check the score over. This is a very unfortunate decision, as it prevents an otherwise splendid production from making it into the top list. This is taken from the complete set. Movement 1 is preceded by symphony zero. Fair enough. But at just under 80 minutes, the 8th could easily have been accommodated on a single disc.
I haven't heard the Berlin Phil account, but if it ends with the same circus act, I'll pass it. In any case, I doubt the Berlin orchestra would surpass the chicagoans' awesome performance here.
Wand Cologne RSO (Kölner RSO). Another big surprise. I've heard a few Wand performances from Hamburg and Berlin, and apart from the Hamburg 5th and 8th, I haven't warmed to Wand's Bruckner - least of all in Berlin. I find his conducting so strict as to mummify the scores. Mighty impressive, but he makes me think he's mastered the score - beaten it into submission. It comes to life as a lecture, not as a musical performance. I don't detect much affection in his music making. Awesome, but note very rewarding.
This is not the case with this Cologne 8th, although rythmic stiffness and Szell-like control do show up here and there (not a single instance of phrase bending, of holding up on climactic notes). Tempi are simply perfect - nothing to argue here. The orchestra is magnificent. I don't think I've heard such amazing brass sound before: there's a buzz, a burr to the low brass that is truly arresting. Trumpets are perfectly balanced and never threaten to drown out the rest. When the brass enters shortly after the beginning of IV, I felt almost raped by the sudden onslaught - could the engineers have given them a hand here? Same feeling at 6 minutes into that movement. Jaw-dropping stuff. I'm reminded of a Chicago Brahms 1 that Wand recorded for RCA: the brass is so glaring and piercingly loud that it actually destroyed any kind of listening pleasure. I suspect this is a Wand trait, but it comes off better with some orchestras - which suggests that the conductor is not apt to change his approach to fit the circumstances (hall and orchestra). Superbly alive timpani too. Unimpeachable coda: I can't think of anything that could have been done better.
The lyrical portions come off well too (the Trio of II, the first part of the Adagio), but the more mysterious, grieving, anguished bits get rather short shrift. I think in particular of the lull in I and III, as well as the whole coda to III. Grave and sonorous, but lacking emotion. All told, this Bruckner 8 comes off as remarkably dramatic and powerful, but it's short of what Jochum (Bamberg and Amsterdam) and Furtwängler find in the work's deeper recesses.
Eichhorn, Linz Bruckner Orchestra. Another extremely well played version. It displays the same kind of brass sound as the Cologne version, if with slightly warmer tone and rounder edges. Strings sound a little lightweight, but that's probably due to their number, not their tone production, which is actually very warm. Solid timpani playing. In many recordings the timpani are too blended into the texture (a typical Celibidache trait: the volume of sound swells without the instrument - the timps - having much of a presence). Not so here. Everything is perfectly balanced. Very natural conducting. This is perfectly satisfying Bruckner. It could very well serve as one's only version. Rock-solid and unflashy but full of the right kind of personality all the same. Eichhorn has good credentials for a top 10 list - towards the bottom.
I used to think of Kubelik's live BRSO version as one of the best. I now find too many allowances have to be made for orchestral errors (brass clams), as well as a rather unfeeling way with the Adagio. It's a fiery, dramatic performance where the musician's emotions and energies are fully engaged. But there have been so many great recordings of this work that I have a feeling it's lost quite a few rankings. Kubelik's 3 and 4 are firmly up there on my best list, and I wish he had recorded the 8 th commercially, preferably in Berlin or Vienna. I find the bavarians' tone slightly lightweight (same feeling with Böhm on Audite).
Finally, another Jochum recording. This time from Tahra, a 1949 performance with the Hessischen Rundfunk SO (Hessian Radio, namely the Frankfurt RSO). This dates from the time before the Nowak edition was out so, uncharacteristically, Jochum plays here the Haas version. This was taped a mere 4 months after the Hamburg recording that appeared on DGG. I have that one, but haven't listened to it yet. There should be some differences, as Hamburg had one of Germany's most impressive orchestras at the time, and it was done in the studio, not live as here. I confess to have been rather underwhelmed by this performance. In all honesty, I need to give it more airtime to arrive at a conclusion. This is typical of low-fi, historic recordings where too much is left out of the aural tapestry to make its full impact, and where the high end (treble) is uncomfortably strident. IOW this is technically deficient and will demand allowances for sonic considerations. What comes out is Jochum's mastery and real affection for the music. More listening is in order.
