Bruckner symphony

Press, 18 March 1985, Page 6

Bruckner symphony

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra with guest conductor, Franz-Paul Decker, at the Christchurch Town Hall Auditorium, Friday, March 15, at 8 p.m. Reviewed by Julie Klaassens. Perhaps Bruckner is not everybody’s cup of tea. Bruckner is a late Romantic following staunchly in the steps of Wagner, whom he idolised. Yet, if only to savour the opulent sonorities of his full orchestration (complete with two harps and four Wagner tubas), more people should have attended this excellent concert.

For those who quibbled that Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony alone would present a lean programme, a single listening to this work would quell any argument. The programmers should instead be saluted for not adding an inconsequential filler (and against this work most suggestions would be reduced to inconsequence). Both from the audience’s and the orchestra’s point of view, the work exhausted all feeling and wished to remain intact. pßruckner moves on

grand scale: the slow third movement of this symphony is said to be longer than the whole of Beethoven’s First Symphony. To draw understanding and coherence from this crucial movement is a feat surpassed only when the movement itself is placed in the context of the whole symphony. The orchestra’s warm, united approach to this work certainly met those challenges. From the outset, entries were secure and sections held together firmly. There seemed to be no disagreement at all in the interpretation, which was lavishly Romantic yet free of cloying sentiment and indulgent wallowing. Instead, the guest conductor, Franz-Paul Decker, emphasised the gaiety of this work. This was most evident in the magnificent Scherzo, where the moments of uninhibited joy seemed to shake the foundations of the auditorium. In the wake of this success, the spiritual growth of the third movement passed naturally. Throughout, the orchestra was responsive to the well conceived line of

development the conductor was slowly weaving. Balance and blending of tone were superbly controlled, so that the great climax to the movement (and the work as a whole) was riveting in its inevitability. One can perhaps forgive Bruckner for scoring in two extra percussionists for these few bars alone. x The enlarged brass section produced some glorious moments with full, throbbing chords and just intonation throughout. Ably meeting their combined attack was the timpanist, Gary Brain, whose timing was faultless. The string tone was appropriately rich and lush in the lower register, the cello section especially adding bite in its incisive attacks.

Only the woodwind section seemed unhappy in some of its exposed passages, although the first movement heard fine oboe playing. All in all, one can only give unreserved praise for the performance. It was excellent listening, energetically ■ and musically delivered. j