Mario Venzago is a Hans Swarowsky pupil who is best known in the UK as principal conductor of the Northern Sinfonia. This instalment of a projected complete Bruckner cycle for CPO is interesting in that it displays a markedly individual approach to the music, one where luminous textures and extreme tempo fluctuations are conspicuous by their frequency. In the Fourth Symphony, the sudden surge forwards at 10'47" into the second movement (after the sombre brass chords) lends the passage a sense of added urgency and the tapering off of phrases as the ‘hunting’ Scherzo peaks is another novel attribute. The finale starts very quickly, almost impatiently, but once the swirling drama has died down the chaste playing of the second set (from the strings) marks an effective contrast.

For the Seventh Venzago pushes his method a step or two further, even from the first note, which is elongated and distractingly detached from its immediate neighbour. The Adagio is at times extremely free: others may vary the pulse virtually as much (Furtwängler and Jochum, for example), but with Venzago the impression, especially near the start of the movement, is more one of interpretative equivocation. Deryck Cooke used to accuse Jochum of favouring a ‘stop‑go’ approach to Bruckner; heaven knows what he would have thought of this! As with the Fourth, the finale’s second set, taken swiftly, has an appealing lightness and purity about it. What I do like about Venzago’s Bruckner is its implied acknowledgement of nature, an almost Dvorákian sense of the outdoors. It’s definitely worth trying and the recorded sound has considerable presence. The editions used by the way are, according to John F Berky’s extraordinarily detailed Bruckner discography, 1886 (aka 1878/80) – ed Leopold Nowak [1953] for the Fourth (CPO claim ‘last version of 1879/80’) and 1885 version, ed Leopold Nowak [1954] for the Seventh (1881‑83 according to CPO).

Gerd Schaller is a fairly experienced theatre conductor whose way with Bruckner is dramatic, interpretatively direct, sensibly paced and in general unfussy. The Fourth enjoys a compellingly played finale (notably broader than Venzago’s, especially at the start), the Seventh fine brass and woodwinds in the Scherzo’s Trio, although I have to say that Philharmonie Festiva, a gathering of musicians from various Munich orchestras, isn’t quite of the front rank. String tone tends towards thinness of texture and the overall blend lacks homogeneity; but the spirit is there and the musical message more than adequately conveyed. I suppose if I were to level one criticism at the performances it would be a relative lack of subtlety. For example, having done such a beautiful job tapering off the nobly arched coda of the Seventh’s first movement, the closing crescendo could have entered just a tad more smoothly. A tiny point, but a marginally softer transition would have made all the difference. Then again, a sense of rawness benefits the angrier climaxes of the Ninth, the last one especially.

And there’s the completed fourth movement, basically the latest (2010) revision of the same 1981‑83 William Carragan completion that Yoav Talmi recorded with the Oslo Philharmonic (Chandos, 3/87R – two previous revisions have also been recorded, though neither is available in the UK). Here I turned for comparison to a 2005 revised edition of the ‘performance version’ by Samale-Phillips-Cohrs-Mazzuca as featured as part of Marcus Bosch’s more refined (and more resonantly recorded) Bruckner cycle with the Aachen Symphony Orchestra (Coviello Classics). The comparisons are revealing, especially the speculative closing pages where Samale et al revisit the crashing discord that crowns the Adagio (not unlike the finale of Mahler’s Symphony No 10) then go on to end the work rather in the manner of the Seventh Symphony. Carragan’s option is more gnarled and craggy but both are well worth hearing (as is Philips’s version of the fragments as presented by Harnoncourt – Sony, 11/03). Incidentally, both Schaller and Venzago use the same editions of the Fourth and the Seventh Symphonies.

Summing up, I’d say that while none of the prime recommendations for the three works under discussion is seriously challenged (and there are very many to choose from), these particular performances exhibit a thorough understanding of Bruckner and would certainly spur you on to further listening were you to encounter them before any others. Of the two conductors, Schaller offers the more ‘regular’ interpretative options.