Continuing Signum’s series of live orchestral releases with the Philharmonia Orchestra, on this new disc Christoph von Dohnányi leads a performance of Bruckner’s Symphony No.4, Romantic.
Bruckner stands out from other 19th-century symphonists; his large-scale works demonstrate a unique fusion of conservative and radical elements, notably influenced by composers such as Wagner and Beethoven. He appended not only the title ‘Romantic’ but even included a programme for the Fourth Symphony, sometime after composition. Though he later withdrew it, the scenario is a mediaeval Romantic ideal, where knights awaken to the sound of horns, rejoice and repair to prayer, before the inevitable hunt and ensuing festivities.
Orchestral Disc of the Month: There’s much worth celebrating on this excellent new recording of Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony – Gramophone
The performance is notable for some really sensitive chamber-music-like interaction between wind and strings and particularly subtle phrasing from the violas in the chorale melody – BBC Music Magazine
A powerful live account of Bruckner’s Fourth, played in the Robert Haas edition… a vast, thrilling drama of tension and relaxation, and triumph – The Times
Dohnanyi makes the finale something of a tour de force – Classical Source
