Bruckner - Symphony 9 [Tate-Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra]In my mind this is one of the very best cover shots on any booklet, it's a magnificent black and white study of Jeffrey Tate by Nigel Parry, it has real power, just look at those freckles!.
Jeffrey Tate is English, and has recorded a lot of Mozart for EMI, and the Mozart Piano Concertos with Uchida, though i don't hear him recording much nowadays.
Well i must admit that the Ninth is far from my favourite Bruckner Symphony, therefore i listen to it somewhat less to compensate, the third movement Adagio has a lot going for it, it's the final movement, but was never intended as such, there was meant to be a finale, which would resolve/release all the knots that the former movements had tied, so the whole thing hangs on a question mark, instead of a satisfying answer, also unlike the Adagio of the Eighth, the Ninth is more bland, it isn't blessed with the same abundance of great tunes.
It's a mammoth nearly 30 minutes long movement, it starts off with a sour tune on the strings, which slowly ascend with the brass to a pinnacle [0:00-0:59], this same intro/tune comes back to haunt again [9:01-9:56], after a great thwack on the timpani, a huge forte brass fanfare blazes again and again [2:08-2:57], this also comes back in a shorter form later [14:02+], about two thirds of the way through, Bruckner gives us one of his lovely wistful string melodies, with sad horns in reply [17:43-18:49], this sounds like something Bantock would do, and for me it's the highlight of this Symphony's listen, slightly later restless strings underpin the horn melody [21:20-22:08], horns turn to brass, and the strings get more agitated, at the end there's a short but peaceful coda [26:00-27:28], nowhere near as glorious and aching as the Eighth Symphony, but satisfying in it's own way.
Here's Jochum conducting the third movement on YouTube.
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