Search - Anton Bruckner, Herbert von Karajan, Berliner Philharmoniker :: Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 in E Flat Major- Romantic

Symphony No. 4 in E Flat Major "Romantic". Anton Bruckner's (1824-1896) Fourth Symphony, known as the "Romantic", which he composed in 1874 and substantially revised between 1878 and 1880, has always been the most popular of all his works. During Bruckner's lifetime the Fourth, together with the Seventh, received more performances than any of his other symphonies; the world premiere of the Fourth, which took place in Vienna on 20 Feb. 1881, was a great success (especially striking after the failure of the Third), and Bruckner considered this to be the "most understandable" of his works. Undoubtedly the popularity of this symphony derives from its well-judged formal structure, its mode of expression, the immediacy of its melodic ideas, and the radiance of its tone colours.