The greatest success for me is the slow introduction of the first movement, one which Bruckner ingeniously brings back again as a dramatic device. The walking bass line under long tones is just so effective, both musically and as an atmospheric device. Of course, having this aspect broken up by towering brass and whole-orchestra interludes only adds to the musical effect.
The little skipping first theme is just as effective in its gentle setting as it is in full brass peroration.
If anything, I enjoy the second pizzicato chorale even more. Here Bruckner's harmonic motion really move outside of the box, surprising the listener with the numerous left turns the harmonies make. Yet, there is an ancient archaic quality to this section as well, almost as if Bruckner is giving into a modal landscape.
The woodwinds introduce the third theme, one which promises heroics despite its initial lyrical statements. And here, in no time at all, we have the main themes of the symphony presented to the listener, allowing Bruckner to move onto his development, although I feel the composer prefers to remind listeners of his musical ideas in large chunks rather than approaching a Classical-Era developmental form. There is a particularly lovely moment where the pizzicato theme is given to the winds while the strings, a wonderful change up. Otherwise, I feel Bruckner is more interested in abrupt contrasts.
Most curious are the quarter-note triplets opposite melodic duples. The oddity comes in the form of the cut-time signature aside the tempo set at 'sehr langsam'. For such a peculiar rhythmic opposition, the slow tempo nearly threatens to lose the listener in any grounding of the basic pulse.
On the other hand, the lamenting d-minor melody is lovely, even moreso when Bruckner adds counter-melodies to the mix. The second theme, opening in an assertive string chorale, is firmly grounded rhythmically, thus contrasting the opening idea most wonderfully. A final section appears before the conclusion, one which tends to sequence and noodle, otherwise, the two main ideas go back and forth in a contrasting manner.
While the third-movement Scherzo doesn't open in pizzicato, it does begin in fast-moving string figures, one with wedges to give this movement a similar articulation at its ope. Unusually, Bruckner completely stops the d-minor Scherzo, and starts anew with an F-Major pastoral idea, which is afforded a noticeable accelerando back to the Scherzo feel.
Despite this change in tempo, key center, and mood, Bruckner surprisingly still includes a separate Trio section. The composer further contrasts from earlier by giving the orchestration a more chamber-like setup, with its first statements given to winds only. While the Trio doesn't last long, I think I could have been just as easily satisfied without it.
I love, love, love the return of the first-movement's slow introduction, yet with added clarinet outbursts similar to Beethoven's Symphony no. 9's last vocal movement. The fact the small instrumental change to the introductory music so readily conjures up Beethoven is a credit to Bruckner's abilities as a symphonic creator.
Of course, many cite the brass chorales as the highlight of this finale. I too enjoy these moments, plus hear those opening pizzicatos return is judicious on the part of the composer! However, the finale is still often a struggle for me as a listener, although Bruckner is keen enough to sound out his melodic ideas most strongly, despite any complexity in his textures and sectionalized approach.
Despite my feelings on the lengthy conclusion, I feel Bruckner's Fifth Symphony to be his most completely satisfying as a mature composer in the symphony genre thus far. While I appreciate concision in symphonic works, I know going into Bruckner that he will work through his musical conversation in a long form, so my preferences rarely get in the way of enjoying his music and structures.
This B-flat Major Symphony is often subtitled 'Tragic', but I find nothing musically or emotionally tragic by the work's end. Even so, the B-flat Major title key is not necessarily a brightly optimistic application either; the composer simply has too many musical ideas to pigeonhole one adjective into an entire 70 to 80-minute work.
As far as revisions, Symphony no. 5 is one of the easier to mete out. Most recordings come from the second edition, from which, Haas and Nowak are apparently very similar. If interested in historical recordings, you will probably come across the now unfavorable Schalk version.
For such a long symphony, timings often become important. Most recordings favor the 70 - 80 minute runtime, although my sweet spot is 75 to 80 minutes. There are a handful of outliers, where Neeme Jarvi comes in closer to 60 minutes and Celibidache strives to meet the hour-and-a-half mark. Even the trusted hands of respected conductors William Steinberg and Peter Maag seem out of sorts in this music, timing wise.
1955: Knappertsbusch
1976: Karajan
1981: Solti
1986: Jochum
1990: Eichhorn
1992: Barenboim
2016: Sawallisch
For now, we will have a very basic list of Bruckner reviews above. Those recordings I mentioned as an example in the text above, or performances I have come to respect which await future reviews, are listed above in greened bold. My actual reviews can be found in the typical Oozy Keep orange. Until we at The Oozy Channel Keep have gotten ourselves up and running, this should suffice and we can reorganize the page a little more coherently in the future.