Bruckner Symphony No. 8 Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich/Paavo Järvi Alpha Classics ALPHA987 81:36 mins
The partially becalmed segment of music at the heart of the Eighth Symphony’s opening movement tells you much of what you need to know about Paavo Järvi’s Bruckner. Wind and brass solos interleave eloquently, string pizzicatos commentate and every bar seems fresh with necessary communication.There’s no sense that the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich’s excellent players are in any way marking time or waiting for the next big tutti, as sometimes happens in Bruckner.
That sense of corporate buy-in pervades Järvi’s performance, and makes it tingle with interest and excitement. The Scherzo darts and jibes restlessly, the string accents sharp and primed with nervous energy. String playing of chamber-like sensitivity graces the magnificent Adagio, where Järvi’s patient, humane probing of Bruckner’s lengthy paragraphs unearths both rare tenderness and a raw emotional vulnerability. Every thread and line of argument seems fully assimilated by the players, and Järvi’s overall shaping of the 27-minute movement is masterly.
The Finale is a triumph of cogency and focus, with foundational contributions from the lower strings and imperious brass at the conclusion. Very few Bruckner outings compel from start to finish, but this one does. It marks out Paavo Järvi as one of our greatest living Bruckner interpreters.
Terry Blain