Bruckner Böhm

Bohm conducts Bruckner's 1889 revised score which represents the composer's final thoughts on his Third Symphony. As Bruckner matured - artistically speaking - his thoughts turned towards a more Beethovenian "Classical" view of symphonic music, in the Brahms mould, and the references to Wagner's - the Third's dedicatee - music were excised, all but one, from the score of the Third Symphony. This purity of symphonic form allowed Bruckner to present his musical thoughts in such a way that the music's inner logic conveyed a more well-structured architecture, allowing Bruckner's - and not Wagner's - voice to ring-out, loud and clear.

"The Austrian conductor Karl Böhm is one of the towering conductors of the 20th Century. As the embodiment of the long Austro-German musical tradition, he helped to write musical history. This 19-CD set assembles all the extant recordings he conducted for EMI (notably its German Electrola label) over the period 1935 to 1949 in Dresden, Berlin, Vienna and London includes a number of rarities and the world premiere release of a version of Mozart’s Serenata notturna recorded in Vienna in 1947. It was during these years that Böhm cemented his reputation as a major conductor of Austro-German repertoire. Collectors will also be pleased to know that this set contains all the recordings that featured in the now-iconic series of Dresden-themed LP boxes released by EMI to mark Böhm’s 85th birthday in 1979. "

Karl Bohm was one of the most significant conductors of the 20th century; Three decades after his death, his clear-cut conducting style, that was characterized by deep gravity is enjoying a well-deserved revival. The present set makes available for the first time his complete later recordings of orchestral music on Deutsche Grammophon, including Mozarts last symphonies, Wagners orchestral music and the ninth symphonies of Beethoven, Schubert and Dvorak.

During his lifetime, Karl Böhm was a widely appreciated conductor of Bruckner with a thoroughly personal tone of his own to put up for discussion. The present recording of the Seventh Symphony with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra was made in 1977 and is therefore the latest made by Böhm of this work. One can see especially clearly how Böhm performs Bruckner in the Seventh Symphony, the work which opens the trio of “Adagio Symphonies” but deviates from strictly symphonic writing in its lyrically wandering character. He avoids all semblance of enraptured, otherworldly monumentality with cantabile, long-breathed phrasing, loving attention to sonic and melodic detail and with a well thought-out dramaturgy of tempi. Böhm’s Bruckner shines in luminous colours and is infused with the warmth of an ever-present singing quality. This is no high-priest’s celebration of cool, distant symphonic architecture, but a down-to-earth, accessible Bruckner interpretation.

While noted for his interpretations of Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Bruckner and Strauss, Bohm is generally not the first conductor I think of when it comes to Beethoven. That said, he has always proven to be a gifted accompanist, and that holds here as well. He and Pollini seem to share a similar vision for this work, and thus both the soloist and orchestral forces work towards the same end goal.