Bruckner: Symphony No. 7

Album review

Without reaching the same heights of mythical ecstasy as the great Brucknerian conductors of the past such as Jochum, Schuricht, Wand, Haitink or Karajan (something that he may well not have been aiming to replicate), popular French conductor François-Xavier Roth gives us a flexible and rather bright interpretation of this great orchestral work. He expertly constructs the foundations of a musical masterpiece without ever losing sight of the composition as a whole. Full of nuance and surprisingly fast tempos that can sometimes feel disconcerting, this piece completely rejects romanticism.

Director of the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne since 2015, Roth has further developed the repertoire of this famous group of musicians from the mid-19th century, which was led by a number of prestigious conductors, including Günter Wand (who lived and breathed Bruckner). Dedicated to King Louis II of Bavaria, Symphony No. 7 remains one of Bruckner's most popular works. Roth’s originality still shines through his wagnerian compositions and his ambitious vision make this one of the most accomplished interpretations of Bruckner's masterpiece.

For this recording, taken during two concerts held in Cologne in December 2019, François-Xavier Roth chose the third revision of Leopold Nowak’s edition, which features the long-awaited clash of cymbals at the climax of the Adagio. However, aside from this key moment, the Seventh Symphony is much less affected than some of its sisters by the textual differences between the critical versions, which are quite minimal here. © François Hudry/Qobuz