Sunday, September 1, 2024
Royal Albert Hall, London
Just over a week ago it was Bruckner Five live from Berlin. Now it was live from London, and will be live from Berlin again on the 14th (with music by Wolfgang Rihm this time) if not before Jonathan Nott conducts Charles Ives’s Fourth Symphony this Saturday. It was hardly surprising that Kirill Petrenko’s particular view of the Fifth hadn’t changed much over nine days, essentially on the move and very detailed (not least uncovering a usually obscured flute line towards the very end (Abbado and Skrowaczewski did similarly however). Otherwise, the solemn tread of the Symphony’s opening, underpinning mysteries of the universe, was swept aside by bracing quickness and contrasting reflection. Maybe the Adagio could have had greater repose, although the climax had brass-fuelled passion a-plenty. The Scherzo seemed even quicker than before, dance rhythms not as pert as before (I reckon). The grand Finale tripped along too much at times and episodes such as chorale and double fugue were overly demarcated, although there was plenty of electricity; nevertheless the work’s apotheosis was thrilling and emphatic if without erasing the impact of the Berlin account. At around seventy minutes, swift. Great playing.
Three Motets by Bruckner* to start, sometimes serene or with off-the-scale high notes reminiscent of Allegri’s Miserere, references to Gregorian chant, and with complex expression – served with sonority, discipline and dedication by the BBC Singers directed by Owain Park.
*Os justi; Locus iste; Christus factus est
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0022c50