Before listening to this recording with the Staatskapelle Dresden, I was aware of the criticism surrounding Giuseppe Sinopoli's conducting style. I knew about his obsession for micromanaging his the sound of his recordings, his penchant for subjecting everything he touched under a mountain of oppressive strings. I didn't care. For me, these descriptions seemed simply wonderful. Sure enough, I found this recording of Bruckner's 7th to be immensely powerful, if you take it for what it is.
It amounts to nothing less than a shoegaze version of the symphony, nearly every great moment of note is choked to the gills by an immense wall of sound dominated by strings. Make no mistake, this is the sound brought forth by the conductor, not a characteristic style of the orchestra. Jochum's recordings of the Bruckner symphonies with the same Dresden orchestra sound nothing like this. I say that even while admitting, in all honesty, that Jochum's versions are most likely the best overall, the apex of all Bruckner recordings.
In Sinopoli's take, you can't hear all of the instruments. I know that transparency and clarity of the different parts of the orchestra is integral to the performance ... most of the time. It simply doesn't matter here. Much like with MBV's "Loveless" (to name the most obvious example from shoegaze), it makes no sense to complain about not being able to understand the lyrics, or to gripe about the imbalance between guitars and drums. Likewise, I don't see the point of complaining about the brass section getting drowned out during the climaxes, or the relatively colourless woodwind sonority. It's all about the rich, zen-like droning strings. Everything they say about Sinopoli is true, his fans and his critics have both got it right. It's simply a matter of deciding whether you, the listener, like hearing the music performed in this way.
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