Symphony no. 1 in C Minor by Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra

Anton Bruckner

Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra

Symphony no. 1 in C Minor

Price: € 20.95
Format: SACD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917255621
Catnr: CC 72556
Release date: 30 April 2015
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Label
Challenge Classics

UPC
0608917255621

Catalogue number
CC 72556

Release date
30 April 2015

"For me the most desirable recording of Bruckner's First"

Klassieke zaken, 26-5-2017

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

Press

About the album

Listening to the First Symphony is a trip of discovery through Bruckner’s countryside, within the triangle formed by Ansfelden (birthplace), St. Florian (with its famous Stift, where Bruckner, first as a choirboy and later as a mature musician, found the much-needed distance from the workaday world to play the extremely beautiful organ) and lastly Linz.

In this First Symphony we already find the characteristics at the heart of Bruckner’s symphonic work: the outer movements exhibit three strongly profiled, truly symphonic themes that cry out for further development, while the polyphony – sometimes quite tightly woven – is an unmistakable part of the structure. No less convincing are the sometimes almost stormy Steigerungen (intensification passages), the elementary rhythmic energy and the extremely rapid modulations. What is still absent are the major chorales and the General-Pausen, the breaks that we already encounter in the Second Symphony (1872), the chief purpose of which was to separate the various thematic constructs. In the Adagio too, Bruckner goes all out in a lengthy quest for the gripping sound of A flat major, which does not let itself be found until the twentieth measure. The brilliant Scherzo is characterised by a highly contagious rhythmic energy that manifests itself in all layers of the orchestra, and only submits to being tamed in the rustic Trio. In the finale, drama and improvisation compete for the main role, but it is so soundly constructed that the entire piece remains in balance. There can be no doubt that Bruckner’s First Symphony is a masterpiece, one that portends the symphonic work yet to come in all its various manifestations.

Bruckner started the first notations for his First Symphony in January 1865 and completed the work on 14 April 1866. He himself conducted the first performance on 9 May 1868 in the Redoutensaal in Linz. In 1877 and again in 1884, the composer gave the score a thorough going-over and made a few modest alterations. But this was not the end of it: between 12 March 1890 and 18 April 1891 he created the Wiener Fassung for Hans Richter, who wanted to conduct the first performance of the First Symphony in Vienna. On this CD you can hear the Linz version. Both on the performance side and in the recording studio, over the years a strong preference has arisen for the Linz version. And the preference is not entirely without reason: the Linz version generally sounds more adventuresome or, if you prefer, somewhat less polished than the Vienna version.

Een meesterwerk in zijn meest oorspronkelijke versie
Dit album is onderdeel van een reeks van opnames van alle symfonieën van Bruckner. Deze eerste editie bevat de Eerste Symfonie, uitgevoerd door het Radio Filharmonisch Orkest onder leiding van Jaap van Zweden.

De Eerste symfonie is echter niet de eerste symfonie die Bruckner componeerde. Er gingen qua nummering twee symfonieën aan vooraf, namelijk de gediskwalificeerde Symfonie in f klein en de zogenaamde ‘Nullte’, waarvan lang werd aangenomen dat hij in 1863/64 was ontstaan. Aan het eind van de vorige eeuw bleek echter uit musicologisch onderzoek dat de ‘Nullte’, pas na 1869 gecomponeerd werd.

Luisteren naar de Eerste Symfonie is als het maken van een ontdekkingstocht door het land van Bruckner, binnen de driehoek Ansfelden, St. Florian en Linz. De belangrijkste eigenschappen van Bruckners symfonische werken zijn al in de Eerste aanwezig: drie sterk geprofileerde symfonische thema’s in de hoekdelen, die zich lenen voor ontwikkeling, en dicht geweven polyfonie die deel uitmaakt van de structurele opbouw. De Eerste Symfonie is zonder twijfel een meesterwerk dat het komende symfonische werk in al zijn geledingen aankondigt.

Bruckner begon in januari 1865 met de eerste schetsen voor zijn symfonie en rondde hem op 14 april 1866 af. Bruckner dirigeerde de première van zijn werk op 9 mei in de Redoutensaal in Linz. Daarna heeft Bruckner het werk enkele malen gewijzigd.

Jaap van Zweden heeft ervoor gekozen om de Linzer versie op te nemen. Zowel in de uitvoeringspraktijk als in de studio is een sterke voorkeur ontstaan voor deze versie. Dat is niet zonder reden: deze meer oorspronkelijke versie klinkt frisser en is minder gepolijst dan de ‘Wiener Fassung’.

Seine Erste Symphonie zu hören ist wie eine Reise durch Bruckners heimatliche Landschaft, im Dreieck zwischen seinem Geburtsort Ansfelden, dem berühmten St. Florian, wo Bruckner zunächst als Chorknabe und auch als erfahrener Musiker die so nötige Distanz zum geschäftigen Arbeitsleben fand, und letztlich Linz. Für diese neue Veröffentlichung im Strom der Bruckners Symphonien gewidmeten Reihen hat sich Jaap van Zweden die sogenannte Linzer Fassung ausgesucht, die die Erste (eigentlich die sogenannte Nullte) in frischem, ehrlichem Gewand präsentiert.

Artist(s)

Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra

The Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra gave its first concert on 7 October 1945, led by its founder and ‘first conductor‘ Albert van Raalte, on Radio “Herrijzend Nederland”. Initially the orchestra spent most of its time in studios working on a large number of recordings for the public broadcasting system. The Netherlands Radio Philharmonic featured prominently in the Saturday Matinee as soon as the series started in 1961, and has continued to give frequent live performances ever since. The celebrated Saturday Matinee has hosted many legendary concerts. Illustrious soloists such as Kathleen Ferrier, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Clara Haskil and Jean-Pierre Rampal have shared the stage with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra.
In 2004, the three classical orchestral formations of the broadcasting 15 system were transformed into two: the present Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic. In 2006, these two orchestras, the Netherlands Radio Choir and the Metropole Orchestra joined the Dutch public broadcasting organisation NPO.
The Radio Philharmonic Orchestra has been conducted by great names such as Bernard Haitink, Jean Fournet, Hans Vonk, Sergiu Comissiona and Edo de Waart. Jaap van Zweden was named its chief conductor in September 2005. The orchestra has also worked with numerous famed guest conductors such as Leopold Stokowski, Kirill Kondrashin, Antál Dorati, Riccardo Muti, Kurt Masur and Valery Gergiev. Soon after its founding, the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic found itself foremost in Dutch musical life in the number of performances and the diversity of its repertoire, with a predilection for Dutch and contemporary works in its programming. It has honed another facet of its striking profile with a great many opera concertante performances. The orchestra has an extensive discography, ranging from legendary LPs recorded in the 1970s under such conductors as Leopold Stokowski and Antal Doráti to Jean Fournet’s much-lauded renderings of French repertoire. Under Edo de Waart, not only did it release its legendary Wagner interpretations, but also the complete orchestral works of Rachmaninov. CDs with work by contemporary composers such as Jonathan Harvey, Klas Torstensson, Jan van Vlijmen and Stravinsky have garnered prizes and much acclaim.

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Jaap van Zweden (conductor)

Born in Amsterdam in 1960, Jaap Van Zweden began his musical career as a violinist, becoming at nineteen the youngest ever concertmaster of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. In 1997, van Zweden made his decision to conduct full time, played his last concert as a violinist with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and was named the chief conductor of the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra where he remained until 2003. In 2000, he added the music directorship of the Residentie Orchestra of The Hague to his credits, a post he held until 2005. Jaap van Zweden began his third season as music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in September 2010. His commitment to the orchestra was recently extended through the 2015-2016 season. Under his...

Born in Amsterdam in 1960, Jaap Van Zweden began his musical career as a violinist, becoming at nineteen the youngest ever concertmaster of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. In 1997, van Zweden made his decision to conduct full time, played his last concert as a violinist with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and was named the chief conductor of the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra where he remained until 2003. In 2000, he added the music directorship of the Residentie Orchestra of The Hague to his credits, a post he held until 2005.
Jaap van Zweden began his third season as music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in September 2010. His commitment to the orchestra was recently extended through the 2015-2016 season. Under his direction, the orchestra is enhancing its programming and community outreach, continuing to champion new composers, and raising its national profile with an annual residency in Vail, CO and a 2011 appearance at Carnegie Hall in the inaugural Spring for Music Festival. Concurrently with his post in Dallas, van Zweden’s other titled positions include chief conductor and artistic director of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra (2005-2012), and chief conductor of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic Orchestra of Belgium (2008-2012).
Under van Zweden’s leadership, the DSO has established an ongoing residency at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival through the summer of 2012, and debuted five world premiere works over two seasons as part of the DSO’s Texas Instruments Classical Series. Throughout the past seasons, the orchestra, under van Zweden's leadership, has received lavish praise from notable media including The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Musical America, The Financial Times, BBC Music Magazine, The Dallas Morning News and many others. In a December 2009 article in The LA Times, Mark Swed named van Zweden one of the”Faces to Watch“ in 2010, noting van Zweden “knows how to generate tense, tactile excitement in all kinds of music.” Van Zweden has also become a highly sought-after guest artist since the DSO introduced him to US audiences in 2007. During the 2010-2011 season, van Zweden debuts with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, San Paulo Symphony, Zurich’s Tonhalle Orchestra and the Monte Carlo Philharmonic. He makes his much-anticipated fourth guest appearance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and returns to guest conduct with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Saint Louis Symphony and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
He also has guested with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestras, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre National du Capital de Toulouse, Munich Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Sydney and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras, Hong Kong Philharmonic and Tokyo Philharmonic, among others.

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Composer(s)

Anton Bruckner

Anton Bruckner was an Austrian composer known for his symphonies, masses, and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-German Romanticism because of their rich harmonic language, strongly polyphonic character, and considerable length. Bruckner's compositions helped to define contemporary musical radicalism, owing to their dissonances, unprepared modulations, and roving harmonies. Bruckner was greatly admired by subsequent composers including his friend Gustav Mahler, who described him as 'half simpleton, half God'. Coming from a small farmer's village, Bruckner started his music education early, which he continued for a long time. Due to a mix of insecurity and eagerness to learn, Bruckner rushed from one study into another and he showed himself as a fanatic, but also remarkably talented,...

Coming from a small farmer's village, Bruckner started his music education early, which he continued for a long time. Due to a mix of insecurity and eagerness to learn, Bruckner rushed from one study into another and he showed himself as a fanatic, but also remarkably talented, student. He started composing at an early age, but he considered everything before his 39th as mere practice. Bruckner never became a stable composer and relied on in short phases of creative energy. After these phases, he would spend ages revising his work. In particular his symphonies received countless revisions and new editions, which was also due to his insecurity, he was quite sensitive to criticism.

The premier of his Third Symphony was a disaster: a large part of the audience left the concert hall and a devastating review appeared afterwards. Luckily, appreciation for his work grew and at the time of his death, even the great Brahms attended his funeral.

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Press

For me the most desirable recording of Bruckner's First
Klassieke zaken, 26-5-2017

"Jaap van Zweden is the ultimate Bruckner-conductor. Whoever still doubts that, should listen to this recording."
Telegraaf, 01-8-2015

[''].. A right up the alley of Jaap van Zweden, who has proven himself over the years as an animated Bruckner performer."
Klassieke Zaken, 01-8-2015

['']...With warm and clear sound on both CD and SCAD layers, it is difficult to think of a finer version of the First Symphony in the catalogue...['']
GRAMOPHONE, 01-8-2015

Stars 4/5
Diapason, 01-7-2015

"The Scherzo with sharp edges and explosive final are of a childish brutality that Bruckner would definitely approve."
NRC, 22-6-2015

"One believes in this score, like Van Zweden's tireless drive and the musical enthusiasm of the orchestra prove."
NRC Handelsblad, 22-6-2015

4**** ["]..Such matchless scherzo is buzzing with adrenaline."
Trouw, 19-6-2015

"... with the First Symphony, it turns out how in the RFO and his former principal conductor lurks a golden Bruckner-combi." "In The New York Times his name was mentioned as potential conductor of the New York Philharmonic. After such a Bruckner one can believe it."
De Volkskrant, 17-6-2015

Ad: Klassieke Zaken
Klassieke Zaken, 01-6-2015

"Wonderfully detailed implementation: analytic and well performed, masterly played also by RFO."
NRC Handelsblad, 01-6-2015

"For me it desrves a place of honor in the musical ' Guinness Book of Records ' and as far as I'm concerned for an Edison eligible."
Opus Klassiek, 01-5-2015