Bruckner - Symphony 4 'Romantic' [Wand-Kolner Rundfunk Sinfonie Orchester]
This is a lovely recording, i really rate Wand in Bruckner, it was his forte, i have eight recordings of the Bruckner 4, and this is my second favourite behind Barenboim / Teldec, it's probably Bruckner's most accessible Symphony, though my favourite is the Eighth, this is the third time this disc has appeared in my Blog [6th February 2010 & 2nd June 2012].
Gunter Wand was German [1912-2002], he recorded this disc in 1976, the front cover picture is beautiful, the sun glistening on a golden river / lake, a line of trees in the distance, the sun out of shot, but it's those wonderful colours, plus a box for the lettering, on a jet black background, and the red EMI logo at the bottom, now that's a great finished product!.
Well on this listen the whole of the Symphony was equally satisfying, i love all these movements, however it was the fourth movement which gives the final seal on the piece, here it's the longest movement at over twenty minutes, Bruckner's penchant for horns is at the fore, it's a gradual build up to one of his brass fanfares [1:13-1:38], a hallmark of Bruckner, and his penchant also for these releases of brass energy [2:19-2:34], i love the strings when they get going in a strong melody [4:48-4:59], Bruckner can really get those brass instruments angry [5:29-6:24], busily trying to outdo each other in volume, halfway through there's this serenade on the strings, it really gets going as a bright spot of happiness in the movement [9:39-10:55], until the angry brass have a field day again [10:55+], but it turns into something more majestic [11:45-12:14], the fanfares erupt into something much more noble than angry sound, the brass later rises higher and higher in their desire to reach a fantastic climax [13:56-14:47], but stops nowhere without any conclusion, the strings propel themselves onward with a real thrust, about three minutes before the end there's a change in the mood [17:14+], signalling the whole Symphony is wrapping up, there's this expectation on shimmering low strings [17:52+] with quiet woodwind and horns, you know it's building up to something truly revelatory and final, and bursts into joy for the last twenty seconds [19:59+], i guess i've listened to this work roughly seventy times, and yet i'm still learning new things about it.
Here's Calleya conducting the fourth movement on YouTube.
Gunter Wand was German [1912-2002], he recorded this disc in 1976, the front cover picture is beautiful, the sun glistening on a golden river / lake, a line of trees in the distance, the sun out of shot, but it's those wonderful colours, plus a box for the lettering, on a jet black background, and the red EMI logo at the bottom, now that's a great finished product!.
Well on this listen the whole of the Symphony was equally satisfying, i love all these movements, however it was the fourth movement which gives the final seal on the piece, here it's the longest movement at over twenty minutes, Bruckner's penchant for horns is at the fore, it's a gradual build up to one of his brass fanfares [1:13-1:38], a hallmark of Bruckner, and his penchant also for these releases of brass energy [2:19-2:34], i love the strings when they get going in a strong melody [4:48-4:59], Bruckner can really get those brass instruments angry [5:29-6:24], busily trying to outdo each other in volume, halfway through there's this serenade on the strings, it really gets going as a bright spot of happiness in the movement [9:39-10:55], until the angry brass have a field day again [10:55+], but it turns into something more majestic [11:45-12:14], the fanfares erupt into something much more noble than angry sound, the brass later rises higher and higher in their desire to reach a fantastic climax [13:56-14:47], but stops nowhere without any conclusion, the strings propel themselves onward with a real thrust, about three minutes before the end there's a change in the mood [17:14+], signalling the whole Symphony is wrapping up, there's this expectation on shimmering low strings [17:52+] with quiet woodwind and horns, you know it's building up to something truly revelatory and final, and bursts into joy for the last twenty seconds [19:59+], i guess i've listened to this work roughly seventy times, and yet i'm still learning new things about it.
Here's Calleya conducting the fourth movement on YouTube.
