Bruckner - Symphony no.4: 3 Versions
£37.00
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Label: Accentus
Cat No: ACC30533
Format: CD
Number of Discs: 4
Genre: Orchestral
Release Date: 10th December 2021
Contents
Works
Symphony no.4 in in E flat major 'Romantic' (1874 version)Symphony no.4 in in E flat major 'Romantic' (1878 version with 'Volksfest' finale)
» IV Finale 'Volksfest'
Symphony no.4 in in E flat major 'Romantic' (1878/80 version)Symphony no.4 in in E flat major 'Romantic' (revised version)
Artists
Bamberger SymphonikerConductor
Jakub HrusaWorks
Symphony no.4 in in E flat major 'Romantic' (1874 version)Symphony no.4 in in E flat major 'Romantic' (1878 version with 'Volksfest' finale)
» IV Finale 'Volksfest'
Symphony no.4 in in E flat major 'Romantic' (1878/80 version)Symphony no.4 in in E flat major 'Romantic' (revised version)
Artists
Bamberger SymphonikerConductor
Jakub HrusaAbout
The Fourth Symphony occupies a special position in Anton Bruckner's symphonic cycle. It heralds the cycle of his “mature” symphonies and with it the composer addressed his audience directly and wanted to be understood by them. He succeeded in this – today the “Romantic” is one of Bruckner's most popular symphonies. Still, he revised it time and again and today there are three versions of it.
With the Bamberg Symphony, which can draw on many years of Bruckner interpretation, Jakub Hrůša has now recorded all versions of the Fourth Symphony. For a conductor, it is a unique opportunity to be able to record all versions of a symphony. In addition, as Hrůša says, the project enables the interested audience to form their own opinion of the quality and tailoring of the respective version. In this way, listeners can decide for themselves whether the composer was right in his doubts, and whether it makes any sense at all to “pit” one version against the other.
This release also includes a fourth CD with the alternate finale (“Volksfest”) to the second version as well as more excerpts from early drafts.
Recorded at Konzerthalle Bamberg, Joseph-Keilberth-Saal November 2020
With the Bamberg Symphony, which can draw on many years of Bruckner interpretation, Jakub Hrůša has now recorded all versions of the Fourth Symphony. For a conductor, it is a unique opportunity to be able to record all versions of a symphony. In addition, as Hrůša says, the project enables the interested audience to form their own opinion of the quality and tailoring of the respective version. In this way, listeners can decide for themselves whether the composer was right in his doubts, and whether it makes any sense at all to “pit” one version against the other.
This release also includes a fourth CD with the alternate finale (“Volksfest”) to the second version as well as more excerpts from early drafts.
Recorded at Konzerthalle Bamberg, Joseph-Keilberth-Saal November 2020
Sound/Video
Paused
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1First Version (1874, rev. 1875-76, ed. Korstvedt 2021): 1. Allegro
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2First Version (1874, rev. 1875-76, ed. Korstvedt 2021): 2. Andante, quasi allegretto
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3First Version (1874, rev. 1875-76, ed. Korstvedt 2021): 3. Sehr schnell – Trio. Im gleichen Tempo
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4First Version (1874, rev. 1875-76, ed. Korstvedt 2021): 4. [Allegro]
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5Second Version (1878-80, rev. 1881, ed. Korstvedt 2019): 1. Bewegt, nicht zu schnell
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6Second Version (1878-80, rev. 1881, ed. Korstvedt 2019): 2. Andante, quasi Allegretto
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7Second Version (1878-80, rev. 1881, ed. Korstvedt 2019): 3. Scherzo. Bewegt – Trio. Nicht zu schnell, keinesfalls schleppend
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8Second Version (1878-80, rev. 1881, ed. Korstvedt 2019): 4. Finale. Bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell
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9Third Version (1887, rev. 1888, pub. 1889, ed. Korstvedt): 1. Ruhig bewegt (nur nicht schnell)
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10Third Version (1887, rev. 1888, pub. 1889, ed. Korstvedt): 2. Andante
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11Third Version (1887, rev. 1888, pub. 1889, ed. Korstvedt): 3. Scherzo. Bewegt – Trio. Gemächlich
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12Third Version (1887, rev. 1888, pub. 1889, ed. Korstvedt): 4. Finale. Mäßig bewegt
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13First movement, bars 63–83 (1878, unpublished)
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14First movement, bars 63–83 (1880, published)
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15First movement, bars 289–341 (1878, unpublished)
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16First movement, bars 289–341 (1880, published)
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17First movement, bars 289–341 (Third Version, 1888)
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18First movement, bars 423–453 (1878, unpublished)
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19First movement, bars 423–453 (1880, published)
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20Second movement, bars 171ff (1878, unpublished)
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21Second movement, bars 171–195 (1880, published)
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22Third movement Trio, beginning (1878, unpublished)
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23Third movement Trio, beginning (1880, published)
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24Fourth movement, bars 339–437 (1881, complete, published)
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25Fourth movement, bars 339ff (1881 with the abbreviation)
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26Fourth movement, bars 341ff (Third Version, 1888)
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27Finale (‘Volksfest’) (1878, ed. Korstvedt 2021): Allegro moderato
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28Finale from the Second Version (1881)
Europadisc Review
Ever since it was first announced, this remarkable new recording of Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony (the ‘Romantic’) has generated extraordinary interest among Brucknerians and the wider record-buying public. The result of Covid restrictions imposed during autumn 2020, it is surely among the most ambitious lockdown projects to be caught on disc. Under their chief conductor Jakub Hrůša, the Bamberger Symphoniker present not just one but three distinct versions of what has always been (alongside the Seventh) Bruckner’s most popular symphony.
The versions – from 1874, 1878–80 and 1887, each with their respective revisions – are performed in editions prepared for the new Bruckner Edition of the Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag Wien by American musicologist Benjamin Korstvedt. And as a bonus, the fourth disc contains an interim version of the Finale that has become known (after Bruckner’s own annotation) as the ‘Volksfest’ (‘folk festival’) Finale, as well as several unpublished passages illustrating Bruckner’s painstaking refinement of certain key moments from the work as a whole.
The result is clearly a labour of love on Prof. Korstvedt’s part, and in his detailed notes he argues most persuasively that Bruckner’s continued work on the Symphony over a period of some 15 years had the aim of creating a version of the work that was as ‘communicable’ as possible, both to performers and audiences. This flies in the face of established opinion that the 1880 second version of the score best represents Bruckner’s own thoughts, and that the 1887 version (revised in 1888 and published in 1889) was essentially the result of well-intentioned but misguided interventions on the part of Bruckner’s ‘acolyte’ Ferdinand Löwe. Korstvedt directly challenges this widely-held view, noting that, while Löwe did indeed copy out the manuscript score for the ‘third’ version, the revisions to it, both before and after its performance, were by Bruckner himself, lending this version an authority that has already caused some discomfort in certain circles of critics.
Setting aside ethical questions, however, what we are presented with here are three versions of the ‘Romantic’ Symphony that provide fascinating insights into Bruckner’s creative process, and each of which reveals different facets of the musical material. Why would anyone interested in Bruckner’s music not want to hear them? Since Kurt Wöss’s 1975 recording with the Munich Philharmonic, and particularly since Eliahu Inbal’s 1982 Frankfurt account on Teldec, the 1874 version (revised in 1875–76) has made numerous appearances on disc, but none from an orchestra with the depth and richness of tone, the security and the ability to ‘breathe’ that the Bambergers have. Compared with the now ‘standard’ 1880 version (performed and revised in 1881), this first version is at once bolder, even experimental in passages, and more fitful, with ideas familiar from the later version often crystallising only to be juxtaposed with what seem in retrospect to be startling non sequiturs. The original Scherzo, quite different from the familiar ‘hunting’ Scherzo of the second and third versions, is arguably the least successful in musical terms, yet it receives a remarkably characterful performance from Hrůša and his players. The Finale, as yet groping towards a more effective form, is similarly assured (as is the ‘Volksfest’ on disc 4), making the best possible case for Bruckner’s early thoughts.
With the second version we are on more familiar ground, and the competition on record is stiff. Yet Hrůša marshals his forces with a sure hand, setting a magical carpet of string tremolo before the forthright horn call (marvellously played with a noble legato) that establishes so much of the Symphony’s character. This is a reading in the sure-but-steady mould, influenced (according to the booklet interview) by Celibidache before his final super-slow phase, but also by ‘Haitink, Barenboim, Furtwängler, Wand and Karajan’, yet without Furtwängler’s (or for that matter Jochum’s) excitable volatility. The climaxes of the slow movement and Finale are built on the strong foundation of an underlying pulse, yet the dynamic shading and instrumental colouring is remarkably varied and vivid, captured with an expertly judged mixture of focus and warmth in Bamberg’s Joseph-Keilberth-Saal. The players (including the orchestra’s marvellously rich and responsive wind section) clearly relish the thrill of the hunt in the Scherzo, as they do the bucolic elements in the Trio.
If the second version of the Symphony represents a fundamental ‘reboot’ compared with the first, the third version is more in the nature of a ‘makeover’: many of the changes are largely cosmetic – tweaks to instrumentation and dynamics to achieve a more seamless trajectory with greater expressive immediacy appeal. Nevertheless there are some startling changes to the Scherzo and Finale that make this side-by-side presentation eminently worthwhile. As the first published version of the Symphony, this third version was the edition used by generations of older conductors including Knappertsbusch and Furtwängler, but (as hinted above) its reputation has suffered at the hands of such influential commentators as Deryck Cooke and Robert Simpson. Yet hearing this version presented with such confidence and warmth by the Bamberg players, one is forced at the very least to give it another chance. If Korstvedt is right and Bruckner made the revisions of his own accord, then this version may indeed represent his best thoughts on a work that had occupied him on and off for a decade and a half, and the very least one can do is give it an unbiased hearing, as it were leaving one’s prejudices at the door.
Self-evidently, this is not a recording for those with prior fixed views on what Bruckner’s Fourth should sound like, nor for those who are squeamish about gazing at the composer’s work bench. Yet for anyone with the time to invest, anyone with an open, inquisitive mind, and above all anyone who really cares about Bruckner’s music (and the ‘new symphony’ of the late-19th century in general), it will be essential listening. It makes available to the general listener and music enthusiast insights into the composer’s working process that deserve to be more than the preserve of a select band of musicologists. In this respect, as well as in purely artistic terms, Korstvedt, Hrůša and the Bamberg orchestra have done us an immense service.
The versions – from 1874, 1878–80 and 1887, each with their respective revisions – are performed in editions prepared for the new Bruckner Edition of the Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag Wien by American musicologist Benjamin Korstvedt. And as a bonus, the fourth disc contains an interim version of the Finale that has become known (after Bruckner’s own annotation) as the ‘Volksfest’ (‘folk festival’) Finale, as well as several unpublished passages illustrating Bruckner’s painstaking refinement of certain key moments from the work as a whole.
The result is clearly a labour of love on Prof. Korstvedt’s part, and in his detailed notes he argues most persuasively that Bruckner’s continued work on the Symphony over a period of some 15 years had the aim of creating a version of the work that was as ‘communicable’ as possible, both to performers and audiences. This flies in the face of established opinion that the 1880 second version of the score best represents Bruckner’s own thoughts, and that the 1887 version (revised in 1888 and published in 1889) was essentially the result of well-intentioned but misguided interventions on the part of Bruckner’s ‘acolyte’ Ferdinand Löwe. Korstvedt directly challenges this widely-held view, noting that, while Löwe did indeed copy out the manuscript score for the ‘third’ version, the revisions to it, both before and after its performance, were by Bruckner himself, lending this version an authority that has already caused some discomfort in certain circles of critics.
Setting aside ethical questions, however, what we are presented with here are three versions of the ‘Romantic’ Symphony that provide fascinating insights into Bruckner’s creative process, and each of which reveals different facets of the musical material. Why would anyone interested in Bruckner’s music not want to hear them? Since Kurt Wöss’s 1975 recording with the Munich Philharmonic, and particularly since Eliahu Inbal’s 1982 Frankfurt account on Teldec, the 1874 version (revised in 1875–76) has made numerous appearances on disc, but none from an orchestra with the depth and richness of tone, the security and the ability to ‘breathe’ that the Bambergers have. Compared with the now ‘standard’ 1880 version (performed and revised in 1881), this first version is at once bolder, even experimental in passages, and more fitful, with ideas familiar from the later version often crystallising only to be juxtaposed with what seem in retrospect to be startling non sequiturs. The original Scherzo, quite different from the familiar ‘hunting’ Scherzo of the second and third versions, is arguably the least successful in musical terms, yet it receives a remarkably characterful performance from Hrůša and his players. The Finale, as yet groping towards a more effective form, is similarly assured (as is the ‘Volksfest’ on disc 4), making the best possible case for Bruckner’s early thoughts.
With the second version we are on more familiar ground, and the competition on record is stiff. Yet Hrůša marshals his forces with a sure hand, setting a magical carpet of string tremolo before the forthright horn call (marvellously played with a noble legato) that establishes so much of the Symphony’s character. This is a reading in the sure-but-steady mould, influenced (according to the booklet interview) by Celibidache before his final super-slow phase, but also by ‘Haitink, Barenboim, Furtwängler, Wand and Karajan’, yet without Furtwängler’s (or for that matter Jochum’s) excitable volatility. The climaxes of the slow movement and Finale are built on the strong foundation of an underlying pulse, yet the dynamic shading and instrumental colouring is remarkably varied and vivid, captured with an expertly judged mixture of focus and warmth in Bamberg’s Joseph-Keilberth-Saal. The players (including the orchestra’s marvellously rich and responsive wind section) clearly relish the thrill of the hunt in the Scherzo, as they do the bucolic elements in the Trio.
If the second version of the Symphony represents a fundamental ‘reboot’ compared with the first, the third version is more in the nature of a ‘makeover’: many of the changes are largely cosmetic – tweaks to instrumentation and dynamics to achieve a more seamless trajectory with greater expressive immediacy appeal. Nevertheless there are some startling changes to the Scherzo and Finale that make this side-by-side presentation eminently worthwhile. As the first published version of the Symphony, this third version was the edition used by generations of older conductors including Knappertsbusch and Furtwängler, but (as hinted above) its reputation has suffered at the hands of such influential commentators as Deryck Cooke and Robert Simpson. Yet hearing this version presented with such confidence and warmth by the Bamberg players, one is forced at the very least to give it another chance. If Korstvedt is right and Bruckner made the revisions of his own accord, then this version may indeed represent his best thoughts on a work that had occupied him on and off for a decade and a half, and the very least one can do is give it an unbiased hearing, as it were leaving one’s prejudices at the door.
Self-evidently, this is not a recording for those with prior fixed views on what Bruckner’s Fourth should sound like, nor for those who are squeamish about gazing at the composer’s work bench. Yet for anyone with the time to invest, anyone with an open, inquisitive mind, and above all anyone who really cares about Bruckner’s music (and the ‘new symphony’ of the late-19th century in general), it will be essential listening. It makes available to the general listener and music enthusiast insights into the composer’s working process that deserve to be more than the preserve of a select band of musicologists. In this respect, as well as in purely artistic terms, Korstvedt, Hrůša and the Bamberg orchestra have done us an immense service.
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