I remember in undergrad, when I shared a house with a bass trombone player, there was a lot of Romantic Germanic music on the CD player. Strauss, Mahler, Bruckner, Wagner – these are the bread and butter of a low brass player, and I found myself enjoying many of these works as well. As I began to study the repertoire for orchestra auditions, the Fourth Symphony of Bruckner became a favorite – not the least because it has a huge section solo in the Andante movement for the violas. The Seventh also became a favorite, just for its sheer majesty and sonic splendor.
Fast forward to the present.
Now, I find myself in a bit of a quandry with Mr. Bruckner. Is it the four-square phrases, the lack of interesting harmonic and melodic development, or the endless tremolo that he inflicts the string sections with that has soured me on his works? Maybe. But I also find, particularly in Saturday evening’s performance, that there is a particular power in his music, perhaps related to his intensity of religious devotion, that is personally affecting. I am a sucker for good, massive brass writing, and Bruckner does provide that in spades in his Seventh Symphony. So, I am at a loss – I want both to hate and love Bruckner’s works, and am not sure which way the pendulum will swing. I have two more performances to come to a decision. We shall see.
2 replies on “struggles with bruckner”
Congratulations on an outstanding performance Saturday night. I’d rank it with last season’s Mahler 9, which I admired a great deal. There were many splendid moments, but particularly memorable for me were the the very beginning of the first movement and the muscular scherzo, which contained especially fine playing by Geoffrey Work and which stood out in bold relief after the slower first two movements. I also admired the consistent energy and articulation in the string sections over the course of such a lengthy symphony. Long symphonies such as Brucker 7 need a sense of progression, which Saturday night’s performance delivered for me. I have always admired Carlos’ ability to hold the massive symphonies together and to give coherence and shape to works that could too easily sound episodic or spiral out of control. Saturday night, I let the music wash over me and take me on a long, spiritual journey. The performance was the highlight of another memorable season. I’m already looking forward to next season.
I often feel the same about Bruckner. The same tricks in every symphony:
1.) Main themes with open fourths or fifths
2.) One bombastic theme in a grand unison (usual has an octave or drag triplet in it)
3.) Themes with “drag” triplets in general
4.) Few or no transitions — just stop, have a solo instrument play a little diddy and then continue with something new.
In the 7th, he does seem to stretch his compositional muscles a bit. The big unison moments strike me much more than in his other symphonies.
Like Tchiakovsky though, while I do not enjoy listening to it I have lots of fun while playing it. Weird.