Octo_Russ

Bruckner - Symphony 4 [Wand-Kolner Rundfunk Sinfonie Orchester] 

Here's Wand's 1978 recording of Bruckner's Fourth, Wand is a Bruckner specialist i suppose, he's made multiple recordings of each Symphony, it's a Symphony on a grand scale [as all of his Symphonies are], this performance takes roughly 65 minutes, and yet it never outstays its welcome, it's probably Bruckner's easiest Symphony to ingest for beginners, i played this early in my Blog experience [6th February 2010], it really made an impression on me today.

Gunter Wand lived to just over 90, and passed away just over 10 years ago, he was born in Germany in 1912, he only discovered Bruckner when he was over 60, and in his last years he was heavily devoted to conducting and recording him, he made this recording in 1978, the photograph on the front cover is stunningly beautiful, a silhouette of a lake / river, i guess the sun setting, gold and brown clouds, and the same with the water, but it's the silhouette of the grass / bank that gives the photo its depth, and the trees on the horizon nicely frame the top of the photo, it's a well judged and composed photo, that is cropped superbly.

It was the first movement that caught my attention the most, it lasts for over 17 minutes, and its structure is superb, the way Bruckner can hold your attention for so long, with lots of repetition is amazing, repetition that he uses to great effect, it's wonderful to hear themes come around again and again, and Bruckner has an uncanny ability to know when to re-enforce something by repeat, and when to surprise with something novel and new, i guess it was the overall structure and architecture that really got to me, the sweep of the whole forest rather than any singular tree, if i could plump for a moment, it was right near the end, a gentle section where the strings and woodwind echo each other, layer after layer [15:03-15:33], Bruckner is a genius.

Here's Gunter Wand conducting the first movement on YouTube.