István Kertész

BRUCKNERSymphony No. 4 ‘Romantic’

Eloquence

ANTON BRUCKNER (1824-1896)

Symphony No. 4 in E flat major ‘Romantic’1 I Bewegt, nicht zu schnell 16’502 II Andante quasi allegretto 15’033 III Scherzo (Bewegt) – Trio (Nicht zu schnell) 10’214 IV Finale (Bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell) 19’05

London Symphony OrchestraIstván Kertész

Total timing: 61’22

Today, Anton Bruckner, the son of a villageschoolmaster, is recognized as one of the mostimportant (albeit late-blooming) symphonists ofthe nineteenth century. During his lifetime,however, he was the subject ofincomprehension and ridicule – that is, whencritics and musicians paid him and his music anyattention at all. Even in modern times, his musichas sometimes been dismissed as too long-winded or uninteresting. He composed a totalof eleven symphonies. (Two of these are earlyworks without a number. The last of these, themighty Ninth, is incomplete, but nevertheless isstrangely satisfying in its three-movement torso.)To put matters into perspective, before his workachieved international recognition, Bruckner hadcompleted eight of his eleven symphonies: theSeventh Symphony was his breakthrough. In hisnative Austria, however, he received acclaim forhis Fourth Symphony, which bears the nickname‘Romantic’. Today it remains his most popularsymphony, challenged only by the Seventh andby the unfinished Ninth.

Nevertheless, the Fourth Symphony was hardlyan overnight success. Beginning it just days aftercompleting his Third Symphony, Brucknercomposed the work’s initial version during mostof 1874. He dedicated it to Karl von Stremayr,the Austrian Minister of Education, who had

assisted Bruckner in obtaining a teaching post atthe University of Vienna. After a trial rehearsalin 1875, the symphony was neither performednor published (the verdict was that all but thefirst movement was ‘idiotic’), and Brucknerrevised it in 1878, and again in 1880. In thisversion, the complete symphony received itspremiere on 20 February 1881 in Vienna, withHans Richter conducting. (Bruckner, never themost sophisticated of men, displayed hispleasure, following a rehearsal, by handingRichter a coin and enjoining him to buy himselfa glass of beer with it. Richter kept the coin, andattached it to his watch-chain.) The dreadedcritic Eduard Hanslick, who later almost made acareer of tormenting poor Bruckner, wrote onthis occasion, ‘On account of the respectableand sympathetic personality of the composer,we are very happy at the success of a workwhich we fail to understand.’

Additional revisions followed in 1881, 1886 and1887. It was the 1887 version, again premieredby the Vienna Philharmonic under Richter, thatestablished the Fourth Symphony as a fully viableand successful work. (Note that this was threeyears after the Seventh Symphony was receivedwith such acclaim in Leipzig. Also, note thatBruckner already was 63 years old when therevised Fourth received its successful premiere

early in 1888, and that he would be dead in lessthan a decade.) Even so, the score was revisedone more time, in 1888. Thus, there are sevendifferent versions of this one symphony. On thisrecording, István Kertész, like many conductors,performs the 1881 version in an edition byRobert Haas. The 1886 version also is performedand recorded with some frequency.

To add to the confusion, Gustav Mahler (who atone time attended Bruckner’s harmony classesat the University of Vienna) later prepared hisown cut and re-orchestrated version of thisscore. It often has been suggested that Brucknerwould have completed his Ninth Symphony hadhe not been bogged down with revisions of hisearlier symphonies. The Fourth is by no meansunique, in this sense. Of his mature symphonies,only the Sixth was not subjected to Bruckner’sown revisions.

If Bruckner continued revising this symphonyuntil 1888, then why is the final revision notnecessarily regarded as the definitive one? Toanswer this question, one has to take intoaccount Bruckner’s reputed self-doubt (althoughthis may have been exaggerated by others), andalso his understandable desire for his music tobe performed and published. Furthermore,hands other than Bruckner’s played various rolesin the revisions of the Fourth Symphony. For

example, some of Bruckner’s well-intentionedbut probably misguided pupils also got into theact. Suffice it to say that there has been muchcontroversy, even during recent years, aboutwhat Bruckner’s final thoughts were, related tothis symphony.

The Fourth is Bruckner’s only symphony to whichhe gave a nickname. It is important not tomisinterpret ‘Romantic’ in this case, as havinganything to do with eros. None of Bruckner’smusic is ‘romantic’ in that sense. (He nevermarried, but throughout his life he developedcrushes on the opposite sex, and a repeatedtheme of these crushes, by all accountsblameless, is that their objects were usuallyconsiderably younger than he.) Instead,Bruckner, a very devout Catholic, appears tohave been thinking about what might be called‘chivalric romance’.

In letters to friends and associates, he offeredvarious clues as to what he might haveenvisioned. For example, in the first movement,the opening horn call, magically appearingagainst a setting of string tremolos, announcesthe arrival of a new day, and then ‘life goes on’:one of the composer’s associates alluded toknights mounted ‘on proud horses’ who areenveloped by ‘the magic of nature’. The samemovement’s second subject is apparently derived

from one of the calls of Parus major, commonlyknown as the Great Tit. The second movementdepicts ‘song, prayer, serenade’, and the third, ahunting scene, with, in the Trio, a break forlunch and rustic dancing. In the symphony’s1878 version, Bruckner referred to the fourthmovement as a Volksfest (‘people’s festival’) buthe discarded this designation in the 1880version, which is also quite different musically.There is little justification for regarding theFourth as a program symphony. Nevertheless,one is reminded of Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony,the ‘Pastoral’, as well as of Beethoven’sinjunction that it was ‘more an expression offeeling than tone-painting.’

István Kertész, born in 1929, was trained as aconductor, composer and violinist in his nativeBudapest. He and his immediate family stoodtheir ground during the German invasion ofHungary – Kertész was Jewish – and the Soviettakeover. Ultimately, however, he left hishomeland in 1957, shortly after the HungarianRevolution had been put down by Soviet forces.Appointments in Augsburg and Cologne werefollowed by his being named PrincipalConductor of the London Symphony Orchestra,where he succeeded Pierre Monteux. He servedin that role between 1965 and 1968. He wasonly 43 when he drowned while swimming in

the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Israel. Hewas known as a Mozart specialist, and he alsorecorded the complete symphonies of Schubertand Dvořák for Decca. He programmedBruckner’s ‘Romantic’ Symphony several times during his tenure with the LondonSymphony Orchestra. This recording, whichdates from October 1965, dates from early inthat appointment.

Raymond Tuttle

István Kertész

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Recording producer: Ray MinshullRecording engineer: Kenneth WilkinsonRecording location: Kingsway Hall, London, UK, October 1965Eloquence series manager: Cyrus Meher-HomjiArt direction: Chilu · www.chilu.comBooklet editor: Bruce Raggatt

ISTVÁN KERTÉSZ on DECCA ELOQUENCEBRUCKNER: Symphony No. 4

480 4848

BRAHMS: Symphonies Nos. 1-4; Serenades Nos. 1 & 2; Haydn Variations

480 4839 (4CD)

DVORAK: Symphony No. 9; Serenade for wind instruments

480 4847

DVORAK: Requiem. ROSSINI: Stabat Mater

480 4850 (2CD)

DVORAK: Overtures & Tone Poems

480 4870 (2CD)

KODÁLY: Choral works. BARTÓK: Cantata profana

480 4853 (2CD)

KODÁLY: The Peacock; Peacock Variations; Hary Janos: suite; Dances of Galanta

480 4873

KODÁLY: Hary Janos. BARTÓK: Duke Bluebeard's

Castle 480 4873 (2CD)

MOZART: Requiem; Masonic Music

476 9781

MOZART: Symphonies Nos. 25, 29, 35 ‘Haffner’

476 7401

MOZART: Symphonies Nos. 33, 39, 40

476 7402

MOZART: Symphony No. 36 ‘Linz’; Eine kleine Nachtmusik; March in C; Overtures

476 7403

MOZART OPERA FESTIVAL476 7437

RESPIGHI: Pines of Rome;Fountains of Rome;

The Birds 450 1102

SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 5

466 6642

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY476 2453

480 4848