Gunter Wand Edition. Part I: Bruckner, Haydn, Schubert, and: Symphony No. 2 in C minor, "Resurrection" (review)

In spite of the proliferation of symphonic music on DVD in the past decade, performances of Anton Bruckner's and Gustav Mahler's symphonies were still very difficult to find on any audiovisual medium—possibly a testament to the awe-inspiring qualities of the composers' symphonic outputs, even among seasoned conductors. Luckily, the DVD releases reviewed here make for an overwhelming reversal, especially since Bruckner and Mahler find paradigmatic interpretations by Günter Wand and Claudio Abbado, respectively. The latter's performance of Mahler's Second Symphony (a work for which no video performance existed until a year ago) comes as a happy addition to the unexpected, almost simultaneous release of Mahler's complete symphonies under Leonard Bernstein (Deutsche Grammophon and Unitel, 2005). Just as I was about to finish these reviews, a performance of Mahler's Second I attended at the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Paavo Järvi, reminded me once again of the extraordinarily engaging power of late-romantic symphonic music on the audience. The late Jonathan D. Kramer insightfully observed on the program that this music is "too powerful to foster indifference." The viewer of these DVDs will find none of that power diminished; Wand's and Abbado's outstanding interpretations may well be the best such experience next to a live performance of Bruckner's and Mahler's symphonies.

Lest there be any doubt, this DVD collection featuring symphonic music conducted by the legendary Günter Wand (1912– 2002) is really about Wand conducting Anton Bruckner—interspersed with two symphonies by Joseph Haydn and Franz Schubert. But who would complain? Possibly more than any other conductor of the twentieth century, Wand understood Bruckner's spirit and championed his music to the delight of all Bruckner fans the world around. In these performances he conducts the editions of the original Bruckner Gesamtausgabe, prepared between 1930 and 1944 by Robert Haas (Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth) and Alfred Orel (Ninth), editions which conductors almost universally prefer over the later ones by Leopold Nowak. Each DVD is carefully packaged with elegantly written and informative notes by Wand's biographer Wolfgang Seifert, tastefully translated by Stewart Spencer. Visually and aurally these performances will thrill Bruckner critics and enthusiasts alike.

Wand directed the Norddeutsche Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester of Hamburg from 1982 to 1991, and he remained the orchestra's honorary conductor until his death. All performances in this collection took place during the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, and were recorded live at the Lübeck Musik- und Kongreßhalle between July 1996 and July 2001. Wand considered Bruckner to be "the most significant symphonist after Beethoven," and listening to the composer's symphonies in this collection one may easily be persuaded. Listening to the chorale of the Fifth Symphony's last movement while observing Wand's penetrating stare, one recognizes the concentrated emotion of a artist whose spirituality bears close affinity to that of Bruckner's. At the same time, however, he imbues that spirituality with a secular essence whereas other conductors often exaggerate its religious connotations in order to emphasize the composer's extreme religiosity. Wand puts it best in a note included in the program booklet: "I am a musician, not a priest! ... When I conduct Bruckner, my aim is to make it clear that he is a great symphonist and not just a composer of solemn and sacred moods: I simply want to present the music as it is intended." And that he does. From the harmonically unsettling and rhythmically capricious first movement of the Sixth to the solemn Finale of the Eighth, Wand's readings are magisterial.

That Bruckner...