Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 in E Major, WAB 107 (1885 Version, Ed. A. Gutmann)

Album review

Rightly considered one of the greatest performers of Bruckner, Hans Knappertsbusch only left behind a single recording of the Seventh, made in Salzburg in 1949 with the Vienna Philharmonic (Orfeo). So this release, by the same publisher, is a godsend for both fans of Bruckner and admirers of this great German conductor.
In addition to its clearly outstanding sound quality, this new version, recorded at a Cologne Radio concert on 10 May 1963, packs an electric charge. The excellent Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne (which would go on to give fantastic performances of Bruckner's symphonies, conducted by Günter Ward) finds itself galvanised by a rejuvenated Knappertsbusch, who brings forth an extraordinary range of nuances, from superb flute or horn solos to devastating fortissimos, which suddenly unleash the accumulated charge. The Scherzo, which normally brings a gust of peasant joy is imagined here with a relatively moderate tempo, and it breaks like a cataclysmic storm, heralding an utterly tormented Finale. In the hands of such a composer, Bruckner's music becomes a great sensory experience, abyssal, incantatory, vertiginous: it is an experience of great depths as well as towering peaks. © François Hudry/Qobuz