Bruckner - Symphony No. 9, Philharmonia Orchestra / Christoph von Dohnanyi Live at the Salzburg Festival Signum Classics SIGCD431 24:51 10:51 25:42 total time 61:26

This is a magnificent recording and performance. Dohnanyi conducts with wonderful control, especially effective in the transitions between sections, invariably slowing down at the end of a passage creating a magical sense of expectation to usher in the next. The tempos are managed imaginatively throughout. The orchestral sound is structured excellently with the inner voices always audible. Climaxes are controlled wonderfully to give just that little bit extra on the final chord, and rarely has the mighty dissonance in the Adagio sounded so - well, so dissonant! And in the closing pages the strings range up and down their unearthly accompaniment in hauntingly separated steps, heralding the final brass E major chord, held perfectly and miraculously quiet for a seeming eternity. The only disappointment is that the Scherzo doesn’t quite bite in the big fortissimo tuttis as

sharply as one would have expected. But overall this recording ranks very high amongst performances of this symphony, the Philharmonia superlative on all fronts.

Ken Ward