Bruckner: Symphony No. 2

Album review

The Estonian conductor Paavo Järvi is establishing himself more and more as one of the great Brucknerians of today. After having recorded a remarkable complete set of the nine symphonies by the Austrian master at the head of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony under the RCA label, here we return, in a separate version, to his concert recording of Symphony No. 2 with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, published in the beautiful Bruckner anthology released in 2019 by the Berlin Philharmonic's own label with eight of today's great conductors.

“Serene and reserved” according to Harry Halbreich, the great and beautiful unknown Symphony No. 2 in C minor is Bruckner’s first major achievement, and in this score he exposes the duality of humanity between meditation and action that would be the mould of all his future works. Bruckner conducted the creation on the 26th of October 1873 at the head of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, whom he had taken a long time to convince, with mixed success. Throughout his life, the composer had to give in to the demands of ill-intentioned friends and revise his work on several occasions.

For this beautiful concert performance, Paavo Järvi used the latest reviewed edition of the second version of 1877, published in 2007 by William Carragan, with its gaping voids and shortcomings making its performance particularly risky. Paavo Järvi's vision is almost bucolic. His tempi are fast, but never excessive, the structure is skilfully constructed, and the rhythms clearly cut out. All immersed in an expression of great simplicity which is the hallmark of his art, even if it means sometimes being too neutral. © François Hudry/Qobuz