Wiener Symphoniker, Horenstein - Bruckner: Symphonien Nrn.8 & 9 (2014)

Jascha Horenstein is justifiably associated with the music of perhaps two composers above all: Mahler and Bruckner. This release breathes new life into two of his essential 1950s Vox Bruckner recordings with a Vienna Symphony Orchestra (renamed, for contractual reasons, Pro Musica Orchestra, Vienna on the original LPs). "This is Bruckner as he should be—not a portentous bore, but a blazing visionary" wrote Deryck Cooke in 1963 of the 8th Symphony by Horenstein, the first recording of the 1890 version of the symphony in the then-newly published (1955) Novak Critical Edition, whilst EMG Monthly Letter in 1956 reckoned it to be "the greatest Bruckner performance we remember in twenty years, whether on records, the radio, or in the concert hall."

From a technical perspective both recordings have aged reasonably, but had a distance and thinness of tone that failed to do justice either to the music or to the orchestra. Bruckner's symphonic music demands size, weight and depth to make its full impact, something the original Vox recordings captured but concealed. I'm certain they were impressive for their time but they dated quickly. This 32-bit XR remastering aims to rectify that, and deserves to be savoured in its full, glorious Ambient Stereo incarnation for full impact. Both recordings suffered from tape speed drift, most particularly the 8th, this I have corrected for the first time; there were also tape dropout issues on the 8th that I've addressed. But it is for the overall impact of an orchestral tone enriched and given weight, top-end extension and dimension that this Pristine release will really stand out.

Andrew Rose