Hans Knappertsbusch recorded Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 9 in D minor with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 1950, and even though the appeal of this concert performance will be felt most strongly by collectors of historical recordings, Music & Arts has done a fine job in restoring this important document and made it clean, clear, and rich enough in sound quality to attract the general listener. Knappertsbusch's Ninth is cogent and urgent under his masterful direction: there is no shilly-shallying about the direction ...
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Hans Knappertsbusch recorded Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 9 in D minor with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 1950, and even though the appeal of this concert performance will be felt most strongly by collectors of historical recordings, Music & Arts has done a fine job in restoring this important document and made it clean, clear, and rich enough in sound quality to attract the general listener. Knappertsbusch's Ninth is cogent and urgent under his masterful direction: there is no shilly-shallying about the direction the music must take, and no dawdling over Bruckner's self-inflicted pauses, which are the symphony's worst flaws. With Knappertsbusch, the first movement is tightly argued and grimly determined, the Scherzo is brutal and compelling (though it has an unusually slow and uninteresting Trio), and the Adagio is majestic and radiant, so the trajectory of this unfinished symphony is laid out with the clarity of one that had a definite end point, and at no point does the music feel aimless....
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