BRUCKNER symphony recordings come in all shapes and sizes, though never quite the shape of Philippe Herreweghe’s stimulating recording of Symphony No 7 with his period instrument band, the Orchèstre des Champs-Elysées (Harmonia Mundi HMC 901857). He uses original instruments or copies because, he says, their timbres suit the profound melancholy he sees at the heart of Bruckner. Compared with Klemperer’s stately giant of a recording, Herreweghe often lightens the music’s weight. Even so, the only time I felt majesty had been sacrificed came at the end, when expansive gravitas is needed. But the first movement moves fleetly without short- changing its own climax; and throughout, the music’s greater mobility helps to lessen those structural jolts that can perplex even Bruckner’s worshippers.
With period instruments there are nothing but benefits. The adagio proceeds with a dark, dolorous resonance hard to achieve with blander modern instruments. There is some disappointment in the third movement: a sharper attack is needed. But blips and all, the performance is essential listening and argument fodder for Bruckner lovers. This period experiment has wiped away encrusted habits and grime.
The Hyperion label’s commitment to Robert Simpson, the feisty conservative among postwar British composers, has been unstinting; one’s only regret is that the company’s founder, Ted Perry, died before the last symphony, the eleventh, was captured on disc (CDA67500). The polyphonic chamber textures of this late piece intrigue, especially in Matthew Taylor’s polished performance with the City of London Sinfonia. The Variations on a Theme by Nielsen, mostly jolly, occasionally serene, make an attractive companion.
With Mark Elder conducting the Hallé in Elgar’s Symphony No 2 (CD HLL 7507), majestic music-making should be guaranteed. Wonderful things are certainly happening — transitions and tempo adjustments unfold naturally, and Elgar’s language is in the players’ bones — but my own pleasure was reduced by the dry BBC studio acoustic. Happily, the introduction and allegro for strings carry greater bloom.