Conductor
Pablo Heras-Casado
began his career in historically oriented performance in the 1990s. He has conducted various kinds of music since then but is new to
Bruckner
, as he has admitted in discussions of this recording of the
Symphony No. 4 in E flat major ("Romantic")
, and is anything but immersed in the long Austro-German tradition of performances of this work. What is on offer here is a historically oriented performance of the work. This may not mean that the
Fourth
sounded this way in its initial performances, even if the players in Belgium's
Anima Eterna Brugge
ensemble use mostly Austrian instruments from the late 19th century. Various 20th century conductors have suggested that the traditions mentioned above, exemplified by the work of the
Vienna Philharmonic
, stretched back to
's time. However, listeners may be ready for something other than glittering Austrian and German readings with state-of-the-art brass, and there were enough of these to put this album on classical best-seller lists in the late summer of 2024. It is quite an unusual
reading, as a few minutes of sampling of the big brass passages will confirm. Sample the beginning of the hunt-themed Scherzo (it is the 1880 revision that is played), or listen around in the finale, where the usual heroic dimension is studiously avoided.
Heras-Casado
's orchestra here is not only made up of historical instruments but is moderate in size, with about 65 musicians. Those interested in a vision of this symphony dramatically alternative to the likes of
Karajan
and
Thielemann
should definitely check this out, as should those interested in how
would have been performed a hundred years ago as his music diffused itself around Europe. Those looking for a standard view of the work, however, might start elsewhere. ~ James Manheim