United Kingdom PROM 56 – Bruckner: BBC Singers (conductor: Owain Park); Berliner Philharmoniker / Kirill Peternko (conductor). Royal Albert Hall, London, 1.9.2024. (CC)
Bruckner – Os justi (1879). Locus iste (1869). Christus factus est (1884) (all BBC Singers); Symphony No.5 in B-flat (1875/6, rev. 1877/8)
The annual concerts by the Berliner Philharmoniker on tour are always a BBC Proms highlight. The second concert was taken up by Bruckner’s Fifth Symphony, a piece I last heard in Dresden in May this year. The performers on that earlier occasion were the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the conductor Klaus Mäkelä, a performance of much accuracy but which missed the larger structure (review here).
Here in London and continuing the celebrations of Bruckner’s birth bicentenary in 2024, Kirill Petrenko offered the ideal balance of detail and structure. If not quite so transparent in texture as Mäkelä (the core Berlin sound doubtless part of this), there is no doubt which conductor fully understood the score. Petrenko’s Bruckner is stunning.
The symphony was not in splendid isolation here, though: it was preceded by a ‘mini-choral symphony’ (Owain Park’s words) of three motets: Os justi, Locus iste, and Christus factus est, the first pieces naturally leading to the drama of the third. Right from the first chord of Os justi, everything was perfectly balanced. An Allegri Miserere soprano leap to the stratosphere was wonderful. The ability of the BBC Singers to hold a capacity audience’s attention at dynamics from piano to pianissimo was remarkable, as was the choir’s unanimity at the plainchant-like final line. The text of that motet is taken from Psalm 37; the text of Locus iste is that of a Latin gradual, heard here in a beautifully smooth performance, its harmonies reaching up to, and potentially beyond, the stars. Finally, the mysticism of Christus facus est, its sections perfectly marked (at ‘Propter quod et Deus exultavit illum’, its line striving ever upwards).
The BBC Singers exudes professionalism; as a full-time ensemble, they act as one unit, and there is no sense of strain, ever. The Royal Albert Hall’s acoustic is perfect for this – and the hall basically acts as a secular cathedral to music for the Proms, after all. The acoustic fits Bruckner’s symphonies well, too. The Fifth Symphony, which sits somewhere in the shadows of No.4 in terms of frequency of performance, is no exception. As the BBC Radio 3 interval talk (recommended listening) acknowledged, this was Petrenko’s first Bruckner. That it should be birthed so fully formed and yet replete with detail is all the more remarkable.
The layout was such that a line of double basses extended up the left (first violin) side of the orchestra, which seemed to emerge, in sonic terms, as something of a grounding spine to the sound. The counterpoint above seemed primal, the tutti arpeggio almost struggling to find the higher pitch regions. Nothing, surely, compares with the Berlin brass sound, absolutely resplendent here. But what was so impressive was the clear delineation of tempi by Petrenko. The actual choice of those tempi seemed perfect throughout – a testament to the convincing nature of this interpretation. Silences, unsurprisingly for this conductor but by no means the norm elsewhere, were impeccably counted. Individual contributions were uniformly stunning: one has to acknowledge Principal Horn Stefan Dohr’s astonishing accuracy and brilliant solos from Jonathan Kelly (oboe) and Wenzel Fuchs on clarinet.
That is, though, the tip of the iceberg: a perfectly blended horn section, glowing flute solos. But most of all it was the collective vision honed by Petrenko that gave the music its dynamism, a first movement dynamism heard in contrast to the slowly unfolding second movement. The oboe (then oboe and bassoon in octaves) ushered in, in their disjunct intervals, a feeling of underlying disquiet. This was no place of rest. Little details acted as reminders as to why the Berlin Philharmonic is the top of the orchestral tree: an arpeggio passed between horn and clarinet was almost ridiculously smooth.
Perhaps an aspect of that disquiet is the marked contrasts of the Scherzo, the juxtapositions perfectly judged here; and Petrenko did not shy from revealing the inherent Modernism of some passages. That sense of compositional adventure persisted into the finale, with its remarkable examination of themes (with solo clarinet as commentator) and its mix of a lifted, sometimes almost breezy mood with music of great rigour. One thing came through strongly: Petrenko is just so in control of his forces on a micro level. Detail is off the scale, so perhaps here a parallel can be made with Claudio Abbado, and yet Petrenko’s conducing has a touch more depth.
Petrenko’s respect of Bruckner’s score is beyond question. There was no doubt we were hearing a truly great Bruckner symphony, from first to last, and there was a sense of wonder at the composer’s processes throughout, as if the players were discovering it for the first time.
Utterly remarkable. There is no doubt that this was a most satisfying concert crowned by a stunning Fifth. Intriguingly, in September, Petrenko couples the Fifth with Wolfgang Rihm’s IN SCRIFT; of course, how we hear Bruckner’s edifice is affected by what is around it, so that will doubtless be a stimulating occasion.
Colin Clarke
I attended both performances. Compared to my Abbado & VPO recordings: Petrenko a stunning 5th; Rattle a disappointing 4th. Each performance received the appropriate and contrasting audience reaction.
This was a memorable Bruckner 5 magnificently played (although the Adagio, which is marked ‘sehr langsam’, could have been just a shade more ‘langsam’). It was wonderful to experience two great German orchestras, the Berlin Phil and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra from Munich under Rattle, within a few days. The BRSO was a match for the BPO in every department – there can be no higher praise.
I find Colin Clarke’s comments on Petrenko’s Bruckner 5 absolutely correct, brilliant! The Berlin Phil’s playing was gorgeous. I could hear their first performance in Berlin a few days before on Bavarian Radio 4. It was not as perfect as the London performance. Obviously Petrenko and his orchestra had worked very hard also between these performances.
Rattle’s Bruckner 4 with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra shortly afterwards was a deep disappointment: the first and third movements played too fast, in the first movement the characteristic bar structure of 2:3 was not clear enough (because of the tempo and lack of preparation?). In the 4th movement Rattle followed the ‘Mottl version’ of 1881 (leaving out a section of Bruckner’s 1880 version shortly before the end climax) which doesn’t make sense.
Whereas Petrenko took Bruckner absolutely seriously, Rattle’s version sounded rather superficial. He doesn’t seem to feel Bruckner’s grandeur.
I agree wholeheartedly with Dr Hubel’s assessment of Petrenko’s Prom Bruckner 5 – it was as near perfection as you can get, the rapport between conductor and orchestra so natural that he seemed to be simply letting them play. I only wished – as I often do in this symphony – that at the end he had used more horns, so that they can soar over the wall of sound from the heavy brass.
I agree too that Rattle’s fluency in the first movement of the Fourth Symphony tended to smooth out Bruckner’s characteristic 2:3 rhythm. However, I believe it is legitimate to play Bruckner – particularly, perhaps, in this symphony and the golden Seventh – less marmoreally, in a way that tilts the music towards light rather than weight, buoyancy rather than grandeur. I did not find Rattle’s interpretation superficial, and I count myself fortunate to have been present at both performances.
Just read this and the comments. The Rattle 4 was a totally different but equally compelling view of Bruckner, whose power and drive in the first and last movements were magnificent.
‘Intriguingly, in September, Petrenko couples the Fifth with Wolfgang Rihm’s IN SCRIFT; of course, how we hear Bruckner’s edifice is affected by what is around it, so that will doubtless be a stimulating occasion’.
To answer the query; interesting though the Rihm was, I imagine it made most of us eager for the Bruckner! Horns in the 5th simply stunning in the superb acoustic of the Philharmonie.