This famed performance, one of the two standard recommendations from the 1960s and ’70s (the other was Haitink’s), at last is generally available in the U.S. on CD. A number of Vienna Bruckner Ninth’s have appeared since 1965, with Giulini, Bernstein, and (soon to be) Boulez on Deutsche Grammophon, but Mehta’s still holds special distinction as being one of the most genuinely moving performances on disc. There’s passion aplenty in the first movement, highlighted by the audacious opening horn call and Mehta’s dramatic pacing of the development section (which now sounds a bit episodic after Günter Wand’s amazingly organic reading on RCA). The brass project brazenly again in the Scherzo, as well as in the Adagio’s “sunrise” sequence. Mehta’s deeply meditative reading of the Adagio is surprising from one so young, and he creates an especially transcendent atmosphere in the movement’s serene closing pages. Decca’s recording captures the unique tonal qualities of the Vienna Philharmonic in the Sofiensaal, even if the sound is dated by a limited dynamic range and subtle tape hiss. A rare and beautiful recording that wears its “Legend” appellation well.
