Bruckner Symphony No. 6 Rémy Ballot
Oberösterreichisches Jugendsinfonieorchester
Rémy Ballot, cond
Gramola (SACD: 69:08)
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New classical music releases reviewed in detail by Gavin Dixon
Wednesday, 21 June 2017
Bruckner Symphony No. 6 Rémy Ballot
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This
the fourth in a series of Bruckner recordings from conductor Rémy Ballot on the
Gramola label, and the second to feature the Upper Austrian Youth Symphony
Orchestra, following an Eighth Symphony with them in 2014 (Gramola 99054). All
were recorded at the Brucknertage, a festival of the composer’s music held
annually at the St. Florian monastery where he spent the early years of his
career, and where he is buried—the basilica there obviously having strong
connections with the composer’s work, but also providing a “cathedral of sound”
atmosphere, conducive, in theory at least, with the scale of his symphonies.
The
first thing to say about this interpretation is that it is long. Very long. At
over 69 minutes it is well within Celibidache territory. In fact, it is even
longer than the one currently available Celibidache recording, with the Munich
Philharmonic from 1991 (Warner 56694), which times in at 66 minutes. That makes
Ballot a strong contender for the slowest reading on record, a dubious honor
indeed.
So
why the snail’s pace? My guess is that Ballot is negotiating a resonant church
acoustic and feels he needs space to bring out the details. But if so, I’d
expect to hear tightly shaped phrases and long pauses after climaxes, neither
of which he offers. Also, the acoustic doesn’t sound too resonant on the
recording, bar a slight and distant echo on the lower brass after some tuttis,
although close-up miking may be the issue here.
The
comparison with Celibidache is instructive, as it demonstrates how fluid the
older conductor’s stately tempos were. Ballot, by contrast, rarely uses
significant tempo changes to shape the music significantly, and only speeds up
when the score obliges him, and even then it seems under duress. The youth
orchestra, to its credit, copes well with the inevitably drawn-out phrases,
with the woodwinds in particular holding their tone across the long lines. The
unity of the string sound is impressive for a youth orchestra, although their
tone lacks character, and it would be nice to hear a bit more punch from them
on the few occasions that Bruckner has them lead the charge into a climax. The
brass sound is impressively controlled, with the narrow-bore instruments giving
a good measure of central European color. Typically for a youth orchestra, the
brass section is bolstered, with six horns playing four parts, and four
trumpets and trombones playing three parts each. But the results balance well
with the rest of the ensemble and never overpower.
The
SACD audio favors precision over atmosphere, for reasons surmised above, and
does full justice to all of the young players. Ultimately, though, Ballot’s
slow and unimaginative conducting makes this release little more than a
souvenir or a curiosity. A few seconds of applause is included at the end, but
it doesn’t sound very enthusiastic.
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