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Bruckner Symphony 4-Bruno Walter

Doug Rea | Ottawa, Ontario, Canada | 06/13/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Bruno Walter had a firm belief in music having a great effect for the moral betterment of both the individual, and society in general.As far as his recordings go, nowhere is this more evident than in this one, his studio, stereo recording of Bruckners' Fourth Symphony. The performance is flawless, and in my opinion, qualifies as Walters' best recording, and also the best Bruckner recording done by anyone. Bruno Walter allows the orchestra to "breathe" in his own, special way, and the sound quality properly conveys an orchestral texture that is irresistable, and outshines any other recorded Bruckner 4.
It is a shame that Bruno Walter did not live to see his plans for a stereo recording of Bruckners' Eighth Symphony- if he would have approached it in the way he did with the Fourth, it would have been a revelation. [The great "if only" of classical music.
Walter had a deep affinity for, and understanding of, Bruckners' music, much more so than, let's say, Karajan or Jochum. He once remarked to Karajan-"you have to go deeper into the score". In this Bruckner 4, Walter does just that- and fully grasps the essence of spirituality and closeness to God in Anton Bruckners' symphonies.As in his Mahler, Bruno Walters' Bruckner must be heard in order to be at one with the music. It is something not to be missed."

Cramped sonics don't help this choppy, fairly rough performa

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 12/18/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"There's a lot missing from Walter's 1960 performance of the Bruckner Fourth. It's phrased from the start in choppy short fragments without regard for the long, spacious line. The Columbia Sym., which can sound quite good in Mozart, was too small and somewhat scrappy for Bruckner. Walter took four days between Feb. 13-25 to make this recording, and one wonders what his health was like (it was quite variable during his last phase in Los angeles).



The cramped sonics don't help. The climaxes crunch, and there's little air around the orchestra. Walter doesn't try for whispered pp's or massive ff's, reamaining in a fairly narrow middle ground of dynamics. Also, we've become used to much more eloquent wind soloists than are heard here. At 66 min. Walter falls somewhere between Harnoncourt's 63 min. (Teldec) and Karajan's 70 min. (EMI). There's no comparison to either, in terms of orchestral finesse and recorded sound.



I can understand loving this CD, however, since Walter remains true to his relaxed, humane style. If you are happy with that, this would be a high-rated version for you."