Bruckner: Symphony No. 3 / Wagner: Tannhäuser Overture

Album review

Andris Nelsons' first recording with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig also initiates a Bruckner cycle for Deutsche Grammophon, and this live recording of the frequently revised Symphony No. 3 in D minor is an auspicious start indeed. Using the 1888/1889 version, edited by Leopold Nowak, Nelsons has chosen one of the least controversial variants of the symphony, shorn of its Wagner quotations and trimmed to an hour in duration. For decades, this has been one of the most frequently recorded revisions, and it may signify Nelsons' preferences for this project, perhaps to stick with recognizable Bruckner and to avoid the less familiar originals that have been recorded by several contemporary conductors, including Simone Young, Marcus Bosch, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Interestingly, while lacking the Wagner passages, this performance of the Symphony No. 3 has been programmed with the Overture to Tannhäuser, perhaps in the interest of maintaining the historical connection between the composers, even though Bruckner had only quoted passages from Tristan und Isolde and Die Walküre. Nelsons displays great confidence and a feeling for the symphony's wholeness and coherence, while the playing of the Leipzig orchestra is committed and energetic, bringing out the vitality and excitement of the music and making a convincing case for this problematic but indispensable work. Deutsche Grammophon's recording is quite clear and vivid, and even though some audience noises are noticeable, virtually everything can be heard and the brass is utterly magnificent in the climaxes.

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