Jaap van Zweden conducts Bruckner’s Fourth

Jaap van Zweden conducts Anton Bruckner’s popular Symphony No. 4. Enticing, entreating themes and motifs which are constantly repeated lure us into a new sound world. Bruckner was more than a century ahead of Steve Reich’s hypnotic music. The American minimalist pioneer has written increasingly exuberant compositions over the years. Reich claims that the calibre of modern orchestras is now so high that he no longer need limit himself to composing for small ensembles. Music for Ensemble and Orchestra is an enchanting tapestry of tight rhythmic patterns and kaleidoscopic harmonies, with a timeless effect.

Time also seems to stand still in Anton Bruckner’s symphonies, as if one were viewing a slowly revolving celestial body from a great distance. The Fourth Symphony, however, is an exceptionally agile and anecdotal work, which Bruckner himself described as a ‘romantic spectacle’ of medieval castles, magical forests and knights on proud horses.