Just as they do today,
Anton Bruckner
's symphonies posed challenges for listeners when they first appeared. The
Symphony No. 7 in E major
was the exception; it was beloved from the start and remains one of the composer's most popular works. This live recording of the work by
Simon Rattle
and the
London Symphony Orchestra
is the first to use the so-called original text complete edition, which includes a cymbals crash in the Adagio, which
Bruckner
later removed, and
Wagner
tubas beefing up the exuberant (for
) finale. However, what is really distinctive about the performance is simply that
Rattle
takes the accessibility of the work at face value. The Adagio, a memorial for
, is straightforward and sober. The Scherzo, which shows
in full rustic mode, is bright and sunny, with the
LSO
brass keeping up with
's forward momentum. The finale takes its rightful place as one of the most life-affirming
wrote. Somehow, the sound from the Barbican in London fails to work here; it needs a richer, more burnished tinge, but it is listenable, and the album conveys the pleasure listeners must have experienced even if no applause is included. ~ James Manheim