Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 / Oundjian, Tso

Peter Oundjian; Toronto Symphony Orchestra

Bruckner: Symphony 4

Typically of a Bruckner symphony, the Fourth is monumental and solemn, often coming across as mystical, religious, and elemental. The music offers an original, potent synthesis of traditional forms and the avantgarde idiom of Wagner’s operas. Also typically, it has four movements indebted to Beethoven’s Ninth: spacious, highly dramatic outer movements; a long, intense slow movement with two main themes; a fiercely energetic Scherzo. The influence of the Ninth is unmistakable already in the opening bars, in which motifs emerge gradually out of a hushed, mysterious shimmer of strings and build to a fortissimo statement from the full orchestra. There is a wealth of incident in the first movement, which unfolds organically, often in great blocks, passages of mounting tension leading to explosive climaxes followed by plains of repose. The outlines of Classical sonata form are apparent, albeit projected onto a vast time scale and made to serve idiosyncratic, expressive, and dramatic ends. Bruckner’s distinctive scoring tends to be massive, organ-like, though he requires only a conventional, not particularly large orchestra.

Price: $14.98