9 Symphonien

Abstract

The music of Bruckner, like that of Sibelius, was loyally served by Herbert von Karajan over more than four decades. This included a time in the 1930s and 40s when apathy and factionalism among both public and critics made these the least fashionable of the great symphonists. Such dedication took insight and courage, but by being true to composers like Bruckner and Sibelius, Karajan was being true to his own innermost musical promptings. Cer¬tainly, there have been few conductors this century better equipped by background, musi¬cianship, and temperamental predisposition to cope, not only with Bruckner's orchestral style but also, and more importantly, with his far-flung musical forms and the areas of space, time, and spiritual distance they em¬brace. Karajan's patient, lofty way with mature Bruckner - works from the Third Symphony onwards-is not, of course, the only one. There are times when one might turn to readings that are lighter and quicker, more overtly dramatic; and there is probably a place, too, for the much more flexible, inspirational approach of a Furt-wanglcr or a Jochum. Yet in the final analysis, one is inclined to agree with Thomas Manns Krctschmar in Dr. Faustus when he classifies Bruckner as a "pure" musician, a true naif, to be differentiated from those composers (Wagner a prime example) whose music ends up celebrating its own power in pious, daemonic, sensuously alluring acts of self-reve¬lation. Karajan's Bruckner is a man who con¬templates great issues, deeply pondered, and rigorously argued. They are readings in the valued older tradition where the route is known intimately in advance and where the vitality of the playing springs from the active collaboration between the music, players, and conductor at the point of performance. As Karajan himself put it: "The sense of musical wholeness comes from an overall knowledge of the work. If you can feel and see the whole work laid out before you as you begin, then this will be achieved." One of Karajan's most telling qualities as a Bruckner interpreter is his matchless control of long-term rhythm. This is particularly the case in slow movements where lesser musicians are incapable of sustaining slow pulses over long periods of time. In particular, Karajan laid great stress on sustaining the pulse in the many great codas Bruckner writes. His effectiveness in this respect was noted many years ago by the critic and musicologist Donald Mitchell after a performance of the Seventh Symphony: "Karajan built the [slow] movement up to its final climax with consummate art. But it was not, perhaps, in the famous and glorious burst of C major affirmation that he was at his most impressive. It was in his wonderfully sensitive treatment of the movement's quiet coda that he revealed his full stature as a conductor. This was a moment undoubtedly touched by inter¬pretative genius." As a child and young man Karajan must have been aware of the Bruckner phenomenon. His lather had attended Bruckner concerts in Vienna, the hall emptying as the music pro¬gressed; the mother of his mentor, Bernhard Paumgartncr, had been a friend of the com¬poser; and Karajan was himself a kind of unofficial pupil of Franz Schalk, who as a conductor and adviser to Bruckner had been closely involved in the well-meaning but often disastrous revisions of his scores. In fact, Kara¬jan the Bruckner interpreter arrived on the scene at a most propitious time. This was the late 1930s when, after four decades of delay and muddle, a great Bruckner Edition based on the composers autograph texbvas being established under the inspired cu>rship of Robert Haas. Karajan was, lor the nst part, a loyal Haasian. Only in the Thirdymphony does he use the late revision ppared by Bruckner with Franz Schalk. Aniin a late, fully mature symphony such as ll Seventh, Karajan has nothing to do withie tempo markings introduced into the score oni ques¬tionable sources (though set off wit brackets) by Haas's successor, Leopold Nowv. "Tempi in the original Bruckner scores", Kajan once remarked, "arc much simpler thanhcy come to be in some editions. Bruckner otn wants a slight modification of tempo and vites 'lang-samer'; but sometimes people die to about 30% of the tempo!" And he adtd: "Only lately have I been able to get virtual one pulse through the entire work [the Fhth Sym¬phony]. It takes years to achieve tis."