Octo_Russ

Bruckner - Symphony 4 [Dohnanyi-The Cleveland Orchestra]

This is another disc making it's first outing, several years back i got to know Bruckner's Ninth from this guy too, though my love of that Symphony is cooler, this is probably the Symphony i know the best, though i feel that the Eighth is a more profound experience, i went out for a walk in the late evening for this one, and it now gets dark early, and cold too!, but it was a warm experience, i suppose i wasn't in the mood for Bruckner, and it took a couple of movements before i really got into it, plus it's good physical exercise, and for the ears and soul too!.

Christoph Von Dohnanyi is German of Hungarian ancestry, his Grandfather was the famous Hungarian Composer, Dohnanyi is now 82, and he recorded this work in 1989, the front cover is wonderful [photo by Phil Sayer], a picture of Dohnanyi leaning up against a wall, just natural light used, you can see the yellow / orange colours of the sun, and that reflection of that gorgeous window is extra special, a well caught shot, with just the right amount of lighting on his face.

I enjoyed all the movements, and i guess this time i noticed how Bruckner brings things to a conclusion all over the place, the ending of the first movement is glorious, the brass have such strong and powerful conclusions [track one, 17:38], and the following Andante second movement has a hypnotic ending of gentle timpani beats [track two, 14:28-15:12], a slow tread to the inevitable end, and those beats have a nice 'solo-ness' to them, again the following third movement Scherzo ends abrupt and sharp [track three, 9:57], however it was the fourth movement that i enjoyed the best, i really paid attention to it this time, Dohnanyi takes the tread of the opening quite fast, but it works, i like the way the brass is quite menacing, Bruckner always had a special place for the horns in his Symphonies, and it shows in this work, i like the way the serenading section is brought in about a quartet of the way through [4:31+], there's a superb brass section that is really frantic and thrilling [5:10-6:05], and in the centre of it the horns play a nice individual role of respoding to the other brass [5:27-5:33], lovely when you notice it, just over 50% through, the brass have another one of their beautiful yet frantic excursions, where they turn what sounds like from minor to major [11:06-11:38], especially the horns play the major role here, really glorious, at times it almost seems like a Concerto for Horns / Brass, and there's another frantic section to delight the ear, the brass rise to a climax [13:40+], while the trumpets bleat out in quick succession [13:45-13:52], again a nice invention from Bruckner, he was also skilled at coda's, and there's a great one that ends this Symphony, tremolo strings that slowly build up [18:23+] into a blazing fanfare of brass [19:00+], very satisfying.

Here's Daniel Barenboim conducting the Fourth movement on YouTube, recorded fairly quietly, so turn the sound up!.