Anton Bruckner
This week’s classical series concert (the final one of this season, alas) features another major Germanic symphony, but a very different sort of work than that written by last week’s composer, Gustav Mahler. Yes, this week it’s Anton Bruckner’s turn in the spotlight with his massive Symphony No. 7. I have to say that, as a performer, Bruckner is not my favorite (whereas as a listener, I love his symphonies) because (a) his works are long, and (b) they feature a lot of tremolo for the strings. What is this tremolo, you ask? It’s a way of bowing long, sustained notes that gives an otherworldly, shimmering effect to the sound. One moves the bow back and forth very quickly and with a very tiny amount of bow to create this effect. What makes it detrimental to the performer? It’s very tiring to do for long periods, especially at the extremes of the dynamic range – and guess what Bruckner has us do? Yep, either pp or ff and for minutes at a time, scattered all through the piece, usually right where you most want a break. It’s great to listen to, but not so great to actually do.
Here’s a great video of the master conductor Segiu Celebidache conducting the opening of the Seventh with the Munich Philharmonic in 2000:
3 replies on “and now for something completely different”
I love Bruckner symphonies but understand why you are not enthusiastic about playing them. I am really looking forward to this concert. It is a very important one to me because an outstanding performance would cap a fine season of playing and would further cement my impression that the orchestra is probably playing at the highest level in its history. Not that I want to place any undue pressure on the musicians. Good luck this weekend!
I’m really looking forward to the Bruckner as well. Toi toi toi!
i saw celibidache and munich at davies hall in sf years ago, doing a bruckner (don’t remember which one) and noticed that the string sections had a system for those interminable tremolo passages. at any given time, about 1/3 of the section was playing a fast tremolo, 1/3 medium speed, and 1/3 quite slow. they morphed from one to the other imperceptibly, even once i’d figured out what they were doing and was watching to see how they did it. it created the most incredible shimmer in the sound, and nobody had to sustain maximum effort for more than a short time before it was their turn to relax again.