Bruckner Symphony No. 3 in D minor (1889 version). Saarbrucken Radio Symphony Orchestra / Stanislaw Skrowaczewski.

Arte Nova Classics (Super budget price) (CD) 74321 65412-2 (55 minutes: DDD).

Skrowaczewski’s Bruckner readings are generally robust and full-bodied, taut and lyrical by turns. It is no surprise, therefore, to find him opting for Bruckner’s textually foreshortened and texturally reinforced 1889 revision of the Third Symphony. The knack with the 1889 version is to know how to cover over the cracks and make the best of the musical non sequiturs. Wand is the great master here, but Skrowaczewski is not far behind, with the Saarbrucken orchestra responding with characteristic fervour and self-belief.

My only reservation concerns Skrowaczewski’s astonishingly slow speed for the finale’s second-subject group, the famous polka-cum-chorale. There is a natural tempo that allows the polka to dance and the chorale solemnly to sound. It is crotchet=120, a tempo adopted by all the old masters: Bohm, Karajan, Szell, Wand. Skrowaczewski opts for a galumphing crotchet=96, with the chorale counterpoint itself rather weakly sounded. This is a pity. At its special super-budget price this 1889 Third had many of the makings of a real winner.

RO