Classical CDs: Cymbals, monsters and Morse code
Art Desk
25 February 2023
Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Paavo Järvi (Alpha)
Parsifal Suite London Philharmonic Orchestra/Andrew Gourlay (Orchid Classics)
There are many things to like about this sleek performance of Bruckner7. The playing of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich under Paavo Järvi is polished, and the speeds are well-chosen, Järvi especially good at managing the transitions between the different blocks of music. He’s blessed with a fabulous brass section, and it’s a joy to hear the tuba quintet at the start of the “Adagio” singing so clearly, the individual voices so well delineated. Järvi sensibly includes the cymbal crash and triangle at the movement’s climax, and the funereal coda is haunting. Badly-handled Bruckner can feel perfunctory and dull; Järvi’s players sound like true believers. Those shifting brass chords before the percussion enter are spine-tingling here, Järvi cannily tightening the screws so that the big C major moment really hits home. The rest is good too, the scherzo’s folksy stomp fast and furious, the quirky finale hanging together nicely. Alpha’s engineering, the work taped live in January 2022, is suitably rich.
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