Kempe Conducts Bruckner's Fifth Symphony

This is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Austrian composer Anton Bruckner (1824-96), so I decided to mark the occasion by posting one of the finest Bruckner recordings I know. It is this performance of the Symphony No. 5 in B major by the Munich Philharmonic, conducted by Rudolf Kempe (1910-76), its music director.

Kempe was a highly skilled conductor, who brings a notable sense of unity to this sprawling score even though he varies the pulse flexibly.

Rudolf Kempe

Abram Chipman wrote in High Fidelity: "Bruckner’s Fifth Symphony is an architectural masterpiece, nearly flawless in its symmetry and awesome in its contrapuntal rigor ... Despite his [Kempe's] basically flexible outlook, he manages the great finale with uncanny assurance and conducts the fiercely tricky three-against-two rhythm in the Adagio as securely as anyone on discs."

More quotes from Chipman's review, which is in the download: "Kempe’s Munich Philharmonic plays with a tautly contained, smooth sonority and an intensity of concentration that rival the Chicago’s ... The acoustical ambience is ideal, neither resonant nor dry. Everything is beautifully proportioned, and the heftiest pages of the finale project clearly."

Anton Bruckner

This is indeed a superior example of late-analogue recording, superbly integrated and natural sounding. I believe it was originally recorded and issued by the chemical company BASF during its 1970s venture into the record industry. Recorded in 1975, the performance was first issued the following year.

My transfer of the two-record set comes from a 1979 reissue on the American budget label Odyssey. I first tried transferring the set five years ago, but put it aside because of some obtrusive noise caused by a pressing fault. However, using a new turntable and stylus I've now been able to produce a noise-free version for this post.

The download includes scans from both the Odyssey and BASF releases.

The link below leads to the 16-bit, 44.1kHz version. A high-resolution transfer is available upon request.

LINK

Bruckner in his studio