Anton Bruckner has a special standing among symphony composers. Originally an organist, he applied the concept of registration to the orchestra to create masterpieces of overpowering sound. Alan Gilbert and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester perform his "Romantic" Fourth Symphony.
Performers
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester
conductor Alan Gilbert
Programme
Anton Bruckner (1824–1896)
Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major »Romantic«
The music
hunting-horn atmosphere
»As the towerkeeper sounds the horn for the German Reich at the break of day«, so the composer Anton Bruckner wanted the horn to open his Fourth Symphony. Bruckner allegedly intended the second movement to represent an amorous serenade, while the third movement carries us off to the midst of a romantic forest where a hunting party can be heard approaching – thus notes later made by the composer, at any rate.
Such programmatic aspects to one side, Bruckner’s Fourth is like his other symphonies: a colossal musical edifice full of delightful corners, spires and awesome vaults.
