PROM 61 Thomas Ades, Anton Bruckner, Sir Simon Rattle, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Sir Simon Rattle knows Anton Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony like the back of his hand. He had no need for a score when he conducted the work with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BRSO) at the Proms. Apparently there are 14 different versions of Bruckner 4. Rattle has picked the latest edition, the shortest version of them all, which was issued by Benjamin Gunnar–Cohrs in 2021. Why are there so many different choices? The reason is simply that the Fourth, the so called ‘Romantic’, became Bruckner’s worst problem child.
On New Year’s Eve 1873 Bruckner put his final touch to the Third Symphony. He took the evening and the following day off, but was back behind his desk on January 2 to start work on the Fourth Symphony. By the end of the year the score was finished. The following year the Vienna Philharmonic, after one rehearsal, rejected it for a premiere. Bruckner was crushed, suffered a depression, but had no intention of giving up. He undertook a number of fairly drastic revisions, wrote two more symphonies,while continuing work on the Fourth. Finally in 1880 he was satisfied with a version that was consequently fairly successfully premiered by the Wiener Philharmoniker under Hans Richter. (Bruckner and a number of his assistants continued to work on the fourth and it underwent even more changes). Simon Rattle has chosen the very latest edition based on the 1878-81 revision. He has also recorded tis version with the London Symphony Orchestra.
Bruckner initially provided theFourth Symphony with some programme notes. He writes that we are in a medieval town surrounded by a forest full of bird song, knights, hunters as well as an organ grinder. The work is not for nothing called the Romantic, a label Bruckner gave it a year after he composed the symphony. Do we have to take notice of the images the composer suggested and later withdrew? Or is it more helpful to listen to this masterwork without the stock images provided?
There’s no doubt you can hear echoes of nature sounds in this work and many of the most effective harmonies are distinctly ‘romantic’, mendelsohnnian or schubertian. Is this therefore programme music? No, Bruckner doesn’t fit very comfortably in the program music category. Yes, the first movement (Bewegt, nicht zu schnell) is full of imagery and so is the Scherzo. But equally there are passages where the picture is distorted, shaded, discoloured or just absolute music. But no, Bruckner doesn’t fit in the absolute music camp either. He ¨sitz zwischen zwei Stühlen¨, Bruckner sits between two chairs, as the German expression goes. Bruckner was trying to please the supporters of the Neudeutsche Schule that championed progressive, innovative musical ideas. The New German School admired composers like Liszt, Wagner and Berlioz who integrated programmatic content into their works. Bruckner was hoping that pleasing the group’s members, would get him work in Germany. It certainly made the movement take notice of him andto begin with he had more success in Germany than in Austria.
Review. Sir Simon received a very warm welcome from the 5000+ spectators. The opening horn call announces the beginning of a new day, and the sun comes up pretty quickly. There is a great awakening in the medieval town and forest. But suddenly everything quietens down. The strings introduce a gentle melody, but before long the brass section barges into the proceedings and when the noise of the knights’ horses has died down, one can hear bird calls and the forest murmurs. The music shifts, stops and starts, makes sudden twists and turns, and can suddenly increase alarmingly in volume. The abrupt tempo and volume changes are handled beautifully in this movement by Simon Rattle and the BRSO.
In the Andante the violas hug the spotlight with a long and mournful passage which returns with a chorale-like melody towards the end. We have exited the knight’s tale and rather than forming shapes and pictures in your mind, Bruckner creates a serene mood-scape. Pizzicati and strong,walking bass lines act like time keepers (so we don’t fall asleep?). But the serenity can’t last and it all comes to a head, when the whole orchestra decides to join in, before the movement fades out with clarinet, soft strings, horn and timpani. The tranquility should not go at the expense of energy and I felt that the BRSO let the tension slip in the second movement .
There can be no doubt about what the the third movement , the Scherzo, is depicting. It has hunting written all over it. Plenty of horn calls, fanfares and good hunting. The successful shoot is celebrated with a Ländler, an Austrian folk dance, and ¨a barrel organ playing during the midday meal in the forest¨.
The finale builds up a fast-paced mystery and Rattle makes the basses pump out the rhythm. It works wonders, despite him going against the instructions of the composer ( with movement, but not too fast). What follows is a kind of synthesis of everything that we have heard before in the first and third movement. The second theme , introduced by woodwind announces a ‘Volksfest’ ( a carnival). Previous motifs are turned upside down, the intensity increases only to suddenly be broken off. Themes are reprised but we arrive in the end where it all started.
The concert started with Thomas Adès’ Aquifer (2024) which received its world premiere earlier this year with the same orchestra led by Simon Rattle. So they are quite familiar with this work.
Aquifer is divided into seven different watery effects. In the first section there is effervescent, ebb and flow. Alarmingly the noise increases , the water surges to the surface, threatening to cause orchestral chaos, but luckily the threat chromatically subsides and the water levels drop. The music almost comes to a standstill, but the movements flow well (pun not intended) into each other and the frequent tempo changes also seem natural. The musical viscosity becomes sludgy and the strings, the trombones slide, the brass descends to the deep source where there is a bit of ungainly wallowing in the mud. This section does drag. The mud starts to bubble (mudpots?), activity slows down to a standstill. The mysterious waters take over, surge once more, almost to great flood levels, before anonther slither- slather-glide string passage. When we arrive at the coda the brass section announces the long awaited bursts of water coming to the surface. For some unexplicable reason (ha,ha) the piece ends with a rattle being shaken by the harpist (not Simon Rattle). I feel this piece could be very effective if a couple of psections were shortened (remember, Bruckner revised his works endlessly and always made cuts). Perhaps it would also be good to loose that tired Rattle joke?
This concert will remain on BBC Sounds for 30 days after the concert on September 5
After the performance Thomas Adès received the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Gold Medal.
