Bruckner: Symphony No. 6; Gluck: Overture to Iphigenie en Aulide; Humperdinck: Overture to Hansel und Gretel.

Bruckner: Symphony No. 6; Gluck: Overture to Iphigenie en Aulide; Humperdinck: Overture to Hansel und Gretel. Otto Klemperer, New Philharmonia and Philharmonia Orchestras. EMI 7243 5 62622 2.

Of Bruckner's last six, most-important symphonies, the Sixth is his least performed and least recorded. I suppose there are reasons, most prominent of which is its not sounding much like the rest of the stuff the man wrote. The work is not as big or grand or awe-inspiring or structurally coherent as the Bruckner's other famous symphonies, and it is to Otto Klemperer's credit that he was able to make as much out of it as he did. This 1964 recording is probably the best we'll ever get.

The first movement has always reminded me of the score to some epic movie. Maybe twentieth-century film composers looked to the nineteenth-century Bruckner for ideas. Wouldn't be the first time. Anyway, the second movement Adagio is far more placid, but it hasn't quite the ethereal otherworldly inspiration that marks some of Bruckner's best slow movements. The Scherzo is actually the first point in the symphony that the composer seems himself, it being a restless contrast of grandiose reflections and serene respites and, interestingly, a possible inspiration for the later Scherzos of Mahler. The Finale barely hangs together in other conductor's hands, but Klemperer seems to make it all of a piece. Indeed, Klemperer so loved this symphony he practically made it his own, championing it long before any of Bruckner's music had come back into favor.

The booklet note tells us that Klemperer's long-time producer, Walter Legge, would never let him record the Sixth because audiences weren't ready for it. When Legge disbanded the old Philharmonia Orchestra and it quickly reformed without him, Klemperer got his way and made the Sixth a priority. I have to admit that even though I can't remember enough of the Sixth to hum a note, I have always admired, nay, loved, Klemperer's way with it. He actually seems to make it all hang together and work.

EMI's sound is possibly no less accountable for the recording's success than Klemperer was. Now newly remastered in EMI's ART (Abbey Road Technology) system and a part of the "Great Recordings of the Century" line, the Sixth Symphony sounds smoother and more natural than ever, sounding for all the world like or better than most new classical releases. However, the two accompanying pieces, the overtures to Gluck's Iphigenie en Aulide and Humperdinck's Hansel und Gretel, were recorded four years earlier and are leaner and, consequently, brighter sounding. They haven't quite the warmth and realism as the Bruckner, but they are well characterized all the same.