BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 5 in B flat Major – Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra/ Hans Knappertsbusch – HDTT DVD-R HDDVD157, 60:30 [highdeftapetransfers.com] *****:
This contrapuntally intricate symphony is not one of the composer’s best known. It is currently available on several different SACDs available in Japan and on the Coviello label; HDTT is to be commended for reissuing this version in hi-res. It comes from a 1960 London quarter-track prerecorded commercial tape, carefully transferred using state-of-the-art gear and digitized with a Weiss Digital A-D processor.
This is the only one of Bruckner’s massive symphonies which begins with a slow movement. Unlike most of the composer’s symphonies it has been subject to only a few changes over the years, though like many of the others, there are both Haas and Nowak editions performed. It was originally published in 1896. It is sometimes subtitled as the “Tragic,” “Church of Faith,” or “Pizzicato” Symphony – the latter referring to its Scherzo movement. Among the oft-praised previous recordings of the work at those by Bernard Haitnik and the Concertgebouw on Philips and the Georg Tintner Naxos recording with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. However, being standard Red Book CD, they don’t match the HDTT DVD-R fidelity-wise (I had the Haitnik CD for comparison). The recording is slightly shy of the typical Bruckner sound in the deep bass end, but then this was before Bruckner began using the Wagner tuba in his later symphonies, and it has only a single standard tuba.
– John Sunier
