Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Wiener Philharmoniker - Bruckner: Sinfonie Nr. 9 d-moll WAB 109 "dem lieben Gott" (2003) [SACD]

As the other reviewers note, this release is essential for anyone interested in this work, for the workshop & documentation of the currently surviving material from the final movement of the symphony. Another important aspect of the release is the use of a new “critical edition” of the initial 3 movements of Bruckner’s 9th, which contains a number of very evident modifications, particularly in orchestration. All the same, it is a concert recording, &, at least in the usual CD format, balances aren’t always optimal, trumpets & trombones often too forward, at the expense of the Vienna Phil’s strings & (especially) glorious horn section, & timpani are somewhat reticent, especially in the 1st movement. Harnoncourt also tends to push a bit hard, lacking the natural plasticity in tempo that marks the greatest performances of the 1st 3 movements of this work. The impression is one of roaring power, building & receding throughout. Of the 4th movement sketches, Harnoncourt plays exactly what survives, except he omits the 50-odd bars of 3 coda fragments that have turned up.
Just a few months ago, a recording of the 9th including a reconstruction/completion of the 4th movement, based on the same body of fragments & sketches (including the coda) & prepared by the same editors, was released on Naxos (8.555933-34). The orchestra is the New Philharmonia of Westphalia (Germany) & the conductor is Johannes Wildner. Now, finally, we can hear this work in a form tantalizingly close to the way Bruckner intended. Furthermore, unlike Harnoncourt’s Vienna Phil performance, Wildner & his astonishiingly capable Westphalians present what I can only describe as a ferocious performance, with horns & timpani cutting through the fabric of the orchestra at key points, & effectively flexible tempos. It’s a performance unlike any I’ve heard since Furtwangler’s furious & terrifying recording made in Berlin during the darkest days of World War II. If you’ve gotten the Harnoncourt (or even if you haven’t), you have to get the Wildner, too.
As an aside, these recordings render superfluous the 1986 Chandos recording by Yoav Talmi & the Oslo Phil of a 4-movement version of Bruckner’s 9th. That documented a brave effort by William Carragan to reconstruct a finale. Unfortunately he had barely 3/4 of the body of sketches to work with that we have now, & nothing of the coda at all.