Track Listing

1. Symphony No. 4 in E flat ('Romantic'), WAB 104: 1. Bewegt, nicht zu schnell
2. Symphony No. 4 in E flat ('Romantic'), WAB 104: 2. Andante quasi allegretto
3. Symphony No. 4 in E flat ('Romantic'), WAB 104: 3. Scherzo. Bewegt - Trio. Nicht zu schnell
4. Symphony No. 4 in E flat ('Romantic'), WAB 104: 4. Finale. Bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #259399 in Music
• Released on: 2004-08-01
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import

Album Description
Classic historic performance (Stuttgart, 1955) from Carl Schuricht, a master German conductor. His unmannered performances were praised for thier warmth and attention to detail. He was noted for his musical intelligence and especially his ability to transmit his understanding of a work directly to the players in his orchestra. His Bruckner interpretations, especially his later recordings, were among the most lucid and insightful readings ever committed to vinyl. Neither rhetorical nor labored, Schuricht allows Bruckner's vision to take wing in this recording.

Customer Reviews

Very musically rewarding
This Schuricht/Bruckner Fourth with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra permits me to extend a little further the brief comparison made in my previous review of Van Beinum's Bruckner 4. I want to relate some impressions I gained from sitting Schuricht and Jochum at the same table. First, I find neither of the two guilty of projecting irritating mannerisms in their respective presentations of the Fourth. Does this mean I like everything I hear ? Not exactly. For example, I wish Schuricht's finale at the end of the last movement was just a bit more imposing. Jochum's comparatively stronger take charge approach registers more appropriately and satisfyingly. But, after all is said and done, Schuricht's reading overall assumes preeminence. In fact, his greater degree of ease and naturalness (traits I have previously attributed to Jochum's style) often yields more pleasurable results, particularly in areas where rhythmic tension builds. He also appears to offer a more generously detailed musical canvass which assists in placing me more inside the music, so that even in Bruckner's more slowly moving second movement, my interest never flags. In this movement, a number of conductors sound too perfunctory. Schuricht, however, demonstrates a simple yet inviting expressiveness, not unlike Knappertsbusch, who, in turn, like Schuricht, seems more attuned to those facets of Bruckner that are both compassionate and rustic. Even in terracing toward climaxes, Knappertsbusch and Schuricht seemingly achieve a greater sense of majesty by moving at a more gradual, relaxed clip. It's as if rising notes are held onto and extended longer, thereby underscoring more effectively an emerging vision of grandeur. On the other hand, Jochum seems to draw a little tauter musical outline, while generally moving more quickly to the mountain's peak. As I've alluded to before, he often responds like a coiled spring which releases with sudden impact. I do not consider this approach to be invalid. I simply find Schuricht ( and Knappertsbusch ) somewhat more appealing. They are not only my preferred choices in this symphony but also my current favorite conductors, along with Jochum, for Bruckner's music in general. Incidentally, the Schuricht Hanssler disc is of a live performance, recorded better than those accounts of both Knappertsbusch ( also live ) and Jochum.

Not the Best of Schuricht
Overall, I agree with reviewer Jeffrey Lee that in this 1955 broadcast performance of Bruckner's fourth, Schuricht achieves that ease and naturalness of utterance for which his Bruckner is renowned. Few conductors have grasped the secret of Bruckner's "noble simplicity" more thoroughly or effectively than Schuricht.

That having been said, I found this issue to be one of the less impressive in Hänssler's Schuricht series. As with all of the other performances in this series, the SWR/Stuttgart is challenged to perform beyond its evidently "provincial" capacities, and in this case it doesn't quite meet the challenge. Lapses of ensemble and intonation are more irksome here than in the other Schuricht/Bruckner recordings from this source; and the horns, in particular, lose their nerve (and their stamina) too frequently for comfort. The Bruckner Fourth is, after all, a veritable Festival for French Horns, and while these players cope decently enough with their roulades in the famous "hunting horn" Scherzo, elsewhere they play well below par. Schuricht, too, seems less inspired here than in most of his other Bruckner recordings. Though Schuricht characteristically and rightly keeps the climaxes in perspective, not overdoing the rhetoric, some of the more apocalyptic moments in the score (such as the sudden shift from the flat-supertonic preparation to the tonic E-flat in the coda to the finale) are underplayed.

The recording, too, though still surprisingly good for broadcast monaural from the '50's, has numerous irritating quirks--such as occasional migration of the sonic image back and forth between left and right channel (odd for monaural).

All told, then, not the success it might have been, and not an essential acquisition for Brucknerians or admirers of the conductor. I would sample Hänssler's Schuricht series first by acquiring the double-CD set of symphonies 8 & 9 together with the stunning account of Mahler's *Resurrection*, then perhaps go on to the superb Bruckner 5 and Mahler 3. Your call.