Anton Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony is the only one of his nine to which he gave a subtitle.
Bruckner’s music never seems to be in a great hurry, and the opening subject of the Fourth Symphony is a case in point, unrolling over the grand course of seventy-four measures. The solo horn is given pride of place right at the outset, introducing a haunting melody that seems to hover between the major and the minor modes. Other wind instruments join in, strongly suggesting the awakening of nature, and then the melody is elevated to a full orchestration.
A reminder of Schubert emerges at the edges of the second movement; we glimpse it in the inexorable “walking rhythm” that also infuses so many of Schubert’s introspective songs and in the general mood of nostalgia.
The Scherzo we enjoy here is a replacement for the rather boisterous but thoroughly enjoyable piece Bruckner originally composed as the third movement of this symphony. This replacement, a product of his overhauling the symphony in 1878–80, is generally more dramatic.
An insistent low B-flat is heard for forty-two measures at the beginning of the Finale, and the symphony concludes in a breathtaking coda: Soaring across a seemingly limitless harmonic landscape, the music builds into a blazing climax in which power, dignity, and excitement lend a shoulder to the task of ending this massive masterwork.
Here is Claudio Abbado leading the Vienna Philharmonic in Bruckner’s Symphony #4:
