Description
There have been plenty of Bruckner albums since his bicentennial in 2024, and listeners could be forgiven for skipping this live one over. Britain’s Hallé Orchestra, in Prince-like fashion going by the single name Hallé, is not in a league with the big German and Austrian groups that have been churning out Bruckner, and conductor Kahchun Wong is, although an interesting figure, not a household name. Skeptics would miss a deeply interesting album, however. One attraction is that, whereas many orchestras conclude the unfinished Symphony No. 9 in D minor, WAB 109, with its admittedly transcendent slow movement (or, more rarely, adopt Bruckner’s own suggestion of using his own Te Deum), Wong includes one of the various proposed completions of the finale. For those keeping score, this is the so-called “SPCM” finale, named for the initials of its creators, and the physical album is strongly recommended here; the notes by John A. Phillips, one of the completers, give a good idea of the issues involved and ably justify what one hears here. They’ve been at it since 1983, and this version has evolved several times. Beyond the textual issues, Wong delivers a fresh Bruckner Ninth. He contributes an elegant note expressing his appreciation of Bruckner: “My journey with Bruckner’s music is deeply connected to values I grew up with in a traditional Asian community — self-restraint, patience, harmony, and a reverence for structure and spirituality. His symphonies, with their expansive architecture, gradual developments, and profound sense of the sublime, resonate with a mindset that values measured expression and quiet contemplation.” One may not have looked at Bruckner quite this way, but Wong delivers an interpretation that matches the concept. Consider his opening movement, almost four minutes longer than, to take a recent example by hardcore Brucknerians, that of the Bruckner Orchester Linz and conductor Markus Poschner. To do this movement so deliberately and make it float rather than drag is quite a trick, and Wong pulls it off. This promises well for Wong’s tenure with the Hallé, just beginning. The Wagner tubas and the other wonders of Bruckner’s orchestration come through, and if one gets into the right meditative frame of mind and accepts Wong’s reading on its own terms, it is quite powerful. The live sound has a few flaws but largely meets the challenge of capturing Bruckner’s epic sweep. This album made classical best-seller charts in the spring of 2025. ~ James Manheim
