Posted by Richard on July 01, 2001 at 23:20:17:
In Reply to: Re: Bruckner > vs. Bruckner ^ posted by Chuck Jackson on July 01, 2001 at 20:23:43:
If you listen to Bruckner recordings by Klemperer, Jochum, Karajan, the DVD of Bruckner 8 by Mehta/Israel Phil, or the 7th, 1st mvt by Hindemith/Chicago on the VAI video, you won't hear a whole lot of heavy tounging, but you will hear clear articulation and lots of sustaining. I was once told that the ^ was an organist expression mark that simply meant sustain . Since Bruckner was an organist this makes sense. Bruckner's approach to orchestral writing was based on his concepts as an organist, and was not understood even by his pupils. The fact that he was highly eccentric, socially naive and maladroit didn't help, and a continual problem in Bruckner performance is to sort out not only the articulation, but to balance his dynamics without rescoring his pieces as his officious pupils actually did with the 4th and 5th symphonies.
Interestingly when you see ^ in Stravinsky, you punch the hell out of it. But Stravinsky wasn't no Austrian organist.