Anton Bruckner's
Symphony
No. 4 in E-flat major (WAB 104) is one of
the composer's most popular works. It was written in 1874 and
revised several times through 1888. It was dedicated to Prince
Konstantin of
Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst.
It was
premiered in 1881 by Hans Richter in Vienna
with great
success. (In a well-known and amusing story that illustrates
Bruckner's good-natured naivety, the composer gave a coin to the
aristocratic conductor after a successful rehearsal and told him to
buy himself a beer.)
The symphony's nickname of
Romantic was used by the
composer himself (see "Program" section below): however it does not
refer to the modern conception of
romantic love but rather the
medieval romance as depicted in the operas
Lohengrin and
Siegfried of
Richard Wagner.
Description
The symphony has four
movements:
- Bewegt, nicht zu schnell (E-flat
major)
- Andante, quasi allegretto (C minor)
- Scherzo, Bewegt - Trio: Nicht zu schnell (B-flat major))
- Finale: Bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell (E-flat major)
These tempo markings are from the 1880 version. The 1888 version,
edited by Benjamin Korstvedt in the Gesamtausgabe (Band IV Teil 3)
has slightly different tempo marking, plus
metronome markings.
- Ruhig bewegt (nur nicht schnell) (Allegro molto moderato) ( =
72)
- Andante ( = 66)
- Bewegt ( = 126)
- Mäßig bewegt ( = 72)
Program
There exists much evidence that Bruckner had a program in mind for
the Fourth Symphony. In a letter to conductor
Hermann Levi of
8
December 1884, Bruckner wrote:In the first movement after a
full night's sleep the day is announced by the horn, 2nd movement
song, 3rd movement hunting trio, musical entertainment of the
hunters in the wood.There is a similar passage in a letter from the
composer to Paul Heyse of
22 December
1890:In the first movement of the "Romantic" Fourth Symphony the
intention is to depict the horn that proclaims the day from the
town hall! Then life goes on; in the
Gesangsperiode [the
second subject] the theme is the
song of
the
great tit Zizipe. 2nd
movement: song, prayer, serenade. 3rd: hunt and in the Trio how a
barrel-organ plays during the midday meal in the forest.The
autograph of the Scherzo and Finale of the 1878 version of the
symphony contains markings such as
Jagdthema (hunting
theme),
Tanzweise während der Mahlzeit auf der Jagd (dance
tune during the lunch break while hunting) and
Volksfest
(people's festival).In addition to these clues that come directly
from Bruckner, the musicologist
Theodor
Helm communicated a more detailed account reported via the
composer's associate Bernhard Deubler:Mediaeval city -- Daybreak --
Morning calls sound from the city towers -- the gates open -- On
proud horses the knights burst out into the open, the magic of
nature envelops them -- forest murmurs --
bird
song -- and so the Romantic picture develops further...There
does not seem to be any clear hint of a program for the third
version (1880) of the symphony's finale.
Versions
Since the 1930s Bruckner scholars have generally recognised three
principal versions of the Fourth Symphony, but two of these exist
in more than one form:
- Version I: 1874
- Version II: 1878-1886 (or, possibly,
1876-1886)
- Version III: 1887-1888
At least seven authentic versions of the Fourth Symphony can now be
identified.
1874 version
Bruckner's original version, published in an edition by
Leopold Nowak in 1975, was composed between 2
January and 22 November 1874.
This version of the symphony was never
performed or published during the composer's lifetime, though the
Scherzo was played in Linz
on 12
December 1909. The first complete performance was also given
in Linz, on 20 September 1975, more than one hundred years after
the composition of the work. On that occasion it was performed by
the
Munich Philharmonic
Orchestra under the baton of
Kurt
Wöss. The first commercial recording of the 1874 version was
made in September 1982 by the
Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra
conducted by
Eliahu Inbal (CD 2564
61371-2).
1878 version
When he had completed the original version of the symphony,
Bruckner turned to the composition of his
Fifth Symphony. When he had
completed that piece he resumed work on the Fourth, though it is
possible that he made some revisions to the latter in 1876 or 1877.
Between 18 January and 30 September 1878 he thoroughly revised the
first two movements and replaced the original finale with a new
movement entitled
Volksfest ("Popular Festival"). This
Volksfest finale was published as an appendix to
Robert Haas's edition of 1936 and in a separate
edition by
Leopold Nowak in
1981.
In December 1878 Bruckner replaced the original Scherzo with a
completely new movement, which is sometimes called the "Hunt"
Scherzo (
Jagd-Scherzo). In a letter to the music critic
Wilhelm Tappert (October 1878), Bruckner describes the new movement
thus: "[the Scherzo] represents the hunt, whereas the Trio is a
dance melody which is played to the hunters during their repast".
The original title of the Trio reads:
Tanzweise während der
Mahlzeit auf der Jagd ("Dance melody during the hunters'
meal").
1880 version
After the lapse of almost a year (during which he composed his
String Quintet in F Major), Bruckner took up his Fourth Symphony
once again. Between 19 November 1879 and 5 June 1880 he composed a
new finale – the third, though it shares much of its thematic
material with the first version – and discarded the
Volksfest finale. Thus the 1880 version is the same as the
1878 version but with a new finale. This was the version performed
at the work's premiere on 20 February 1881, which was the first
premiere of a Bruckner symphony not to be conducted by Bruckner
himself. This version is sometimes referred to as the 1878/80
version.
1881 version
The 1881 version is the same as the 1880 version but includes some
changes made after the first performance of the latter – notably a
cut in the slow movement and a reworking of the finale. It is
available in an edition by
Robert Haas,
which was published in 1936, based on Bruckner's manuscript in the
Austrian National Library.
1886 version
The 1886
version is the same as the 1881 version but includes a number of
changes made by Bruckner while preparing a score of the symphony
for Anton Seidl, who took it with him to
New
York
. This version was published in an edition by
Nowak in 1953, based on the original copyist's score, which was
rediscovered in 1952 and is now in the collection of
Columbia University. In the title of
Nowak's publication, it was confusingly described as the "1878-1880
version". It was performed in New York by Seidl on 4 April
1888.
1887 version
With the assistance of
Ferdinand
Löwe, and probably also
Franz and
Joseph Schalk, Bruckner thoroughly
revised the symphony in 1887-88 with a view to having it published.
Although Löwe and the Schalks made some changes to Bruckner's
score, these are now thought to have been authorized by Bruckner.
This
version was first performed to great acclaim in Vienna on 20
January 1888 by the Vienna
Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Hans Richter.
The only surviving manuscript which records the compositional
process of this version is the
Stichvorlage, or engraver's
copy of the score, which was prepared for the symphony's publisher
Alfred J. Gutmann of Vienna. The
Stichvorlage was written
down by three main copyists whose identities are unknown, though it
is possible that they were none other than Löwe and Franz and
Joseph Schalk. One of the copyists copied out the 1st and 4th
movements, while the others each copied out one of the inner
movements. Some tempi and expression marks were added in a fourth
hand; these may have been inserted by Hans Richter during
rehearsals for the premiere in January 1888, or even by Bruckner
himself, who is known to have taken an interest in such matters.
The
Stichvorlage is now in an inaccessible private
collection in Vienna; there is, however, a set of black-and-white
photographs of the entire manuscipt in the Wiener Stadtbibliothek
(A-Wst M.H. 9098/c).
1888 version
In February 1888, Bruckner made extensive revisions to all four
movements after having heard the premiere of the 1887 version the
previous month. These changes were entered in Bruckner's own hand
into the
Stichvorlage, which he then dated. The
Stichvorlage was sent to the Viennese firm of Albert J.
Gutmann sometime between 15 May and 20 June 1888. In September 1889
the score was published by Gutmann. This was the first edition of
the symphony to be published in the composer's lifetime. In 1890
Gutmann issued a corrected text of this edition, which rectified a
number of misprints.
The 1888 version is sometimes referred to by Bruckner scholars as
the "revised version".
Mahler reorchestration
Gustav Mahler made an arrangement of
the 1888 version which is heavily cut and reorchestrated. It is
available in a recording by
Gennadi Rozhdestvensky.
The following table summarises the details of the different
versions.
| Year |
Common Designation |
Korstvedt |
Redlich |
Cooke |
Other Designation |
Source |
Printed Editions |
| 1874 |
I
|
I
|
I
|
–
|
Original Version
Urfassung
|
–
|
Nowak 1975 |
| 1878 |
II
|
IIa
|
II
|
–
|
Volksfest Version |
–
|
Haas 1936
Haas 1944
Nowak 1981 (Finale)
|
| 1880 |
IIb
|
III
|
First Definitive |
Vienna Version
1878/80 Version
|
–
|
Unpublished |
| 1881 |
Karlsruhe Version
Originalfassung
1878/80 Version
|
Autograph: A-Wn Mus. Hs.
19.476 |
Haas 1936
Haas 1944
|
| 1886 |
Revised |
New York Version
1878/80 Version
|
Copyist's Score: Columbia |
Nowak 1953 |
| 1887 |
III
|
III
|
IV
|
Löwe/Schalk |
–
|
Stichvorlage (private collection)
Photographs: A-Wst M.H.
9098/c
|
Unpublished |
| 1888 |
Schalk & Löwe Version
Endfassung
Fassung letzter Hand
|
Stichvorlage (private collection)
Photographs: A-Wst M.H.
9098/c
|
Gutmann 1889
Wöss 1927
Redlich 1955
Korstvedt 2004
|
Bruckner's Fourth Symphony and the Bruckner Problem
Any critical appraisal of Bruckner's Fourth Symphony must take into
account the so-called
Bruckner
Problem – i.e. the controversy surrounding the degrees of
authenticity and authorial status of the different versions of his
symphonies. Between 1890 and 1935 there was no such controversy as
far as the Fourth was concerned: Gutmann's print of the symphony,
the 1888 version, reigned supreme. British musicologist
Donald Francis Tovey's analysis of the
symphony makes no mention of any other version; nor does the Swiss
theorist
Ernst Kurth; and Gutmann's
version was the one performed by the leading conductors of the day:
Mahler,
Weingartner,
Richter and
Fischer.
This consensus was upset in 1936 when
Robert
Haas, editor of the Bruckner
Kritische Gesamtausgabe
(the critical edition of all of Bruckner's works), dismissed the
version printed in 1889 as being without authenticity, saying that
"the circumstances that accompanied its publication can no longer
be verified" and dismissing it as "a murky source for the
specialist". In Haas's opinion the 1880 version was the
Fassung
letzter Hand (i.e. the last version of the symphony to be
transmitted in a manuscript in Bruckner's own hand). We now know
that this is not entirely true, but when Haas denied authorial
status to the 1889 version he was unaware of the existence of the
Stichvorlage from which that print was taken. In fact, the
Stichvorlage has extensive revisions in Bruckner's own
hand, revisions which Bruckner made in February 1888 after the
premiere of the 1887 version of the symphony. To account for the
fact that Bruckner had nevertheless allowed the 1888 version to be
printed, Haas created the now-popular image of Bruckner as a
composer with so little confidence in his own orchestral technique
that he was easily persuaded to accept the revisions of
well-meaning meddlers like Löwe and the Schalks – revisions which
had in fact no authorial status whatsoever.
Haas's 1936 edition contained the entire symphony based on
Bruckner's 1881 autograph and included the
Volksfest
finale in an appendix: he described this edition as the "original
version" (
Originalfassung). He planned a second volume
containing the earlier 1874 version of the symphony, but this was
never completed.Benjamin Marcus Korstvedt (2004), p. 125
In 1940 Alfred Orel announced the rediscovery of the
Stichvorlage from which the 1888 version had been printed.
He noted that Bruckner had emended it himself and in 1948 declared
it the true
Fassung letzter Hand. Even Haas appears to
have had second thoughts on the matter when he learned of the
existence of the
Stichvorlage. In 1944 he announced his
intention to restore the 1888 version to the Bruckner
Gesamtausgabe; but before he could do this he was replaced
as editor by
Leopold Nowak, who was
not yet convinced that the 1888 version was authentic. Nowak
rejected the evidence of the
Stichvorlage on the grounds
that Bruckner had not signed it. He also repeated – and revised –
some of the arguments Haas had invoked to cast doubt on Bruckner's
involvement in the preparation of the 1887 version.
Throughout the second half of the twentieth century most
commentators accepted Haas's and Nowak's arguments without taking
the trouble to investigate the matter any further. The rediscovery
of the copyist's score of the 1886 version was the only significant
change to the
Gesamtausgabe during Nowak's long editorship
(1944-198?). Nowak issued critical editions of the original 1874
version (1975), the 1886 version (1953) and the
Volksfest
finale of the 1878 version (1981), as well as a new edition of the
1881 version (1981). Gutmann's print of the 1888 version, however,
remained beyond the pale as far as Nowak was concerned.
Critical
appreciation of the symphony took an interesting turn in 1954, when
Eulenberg
issued a new edition of the 1888 version by the
German-born British musicologist Hans
F. Redlich. According to
Redlich, the publication of the revised version in 1889 did not
mark the end of the Fourth Symphony's long process of composition
and revision, as most commentators had assumed, for on 18 January
1890 Bruckner supposedly began to indite yet another version of the
symphony:
"The strangest feature in this tangle of conflicting
evidence is the fact that the so called Endfassung (final
version) of the symphony which – according to R.
Haas – combined versions II and III [i.e. essentially
the same as the 1880 version] and is embodied in HS 19476 of
the Nat.
Bibl.
Vienna Austrian
National Library
, seems to have been put on paper after the
issue of the "revised version" (i.e [the published 1888
version]).
This emerges clearly from the Facsimile of its first
page [published as Plate IV in R.
Haas, Anton Bruckner (Potsdam, 1934),
p.
128], which bears the date of its commencement: Vienna
January 18, 1890.
It is possible to see in this MS score as well as in
its date a silent protest of Bruckner's against the published score
of 1889."
Redlich buttressed this argument by questioning the authenticity of
a number of emendations to the score which he considered alien to
Bruckner's native style. Among these, the following may be noted:
the introduction of
piccolo and
cymbals in the 76th
measure of the finale; the use of
pp
cymbals in measure 473 of the finale; and the use of muted horns in
measure 147 of the finale, the
aperto command for which is
omitted in measure 155.
In 1969
Deryck Cooke repeated these
arguments in his influential series of articles
The Bruckner
Problem Simplified, going so far as to claim that Bruckner
"withheld his ultimate sanction by refusing to sign the copy sent
to the printer". Cooke, who referred to the 1888 version as the
"completely spurious ... Löwe/Schalk score", concluded that the
existence of the alleged manuscript of 1890 to which Redlich had
first drawn attention effectively annulled all revisions made after
1881.
In 1996, however, critical opinion of the Fourth Symphony was
turned on its head by the American musicologist
Benjamin Korstvedt, who demonstrated that
the manuscript referred to by Redlich and Cooke does not in fact
exist:
"Were it true that Bruckner made such a copy, Cooke's
claim would merit consideration.
But Bruckner never did.
Redlich and Cooke were misled by a photograph in Haas's
biography of Bruckner.
This photograph, which shows the first page of
Bruckner's autograph score of the second version, is cropped in
such a way that the date 18.
Jänner 1878 – which is mentioned by Haas –
seems to read 18 Jänner 1890"
Korstvedt has also refuted Haas's oft-repeated argument that
Bruckner was a diffident composer who lacked faith in his own
ability and was willing to make concessions that contravened his
own artistic judgement. No evidence has ever been adduced in
support of this assessment of the composer. On the contrary, there
are first-hand accounts from Bruckner's own associates that it was
impossible to persuade him to accept emendations against his own
better judgement.
It is Korstvedt's contention that while the preparation of the 1888
version was indeed a collaborative effort between Bruckner, Löwe,
and probably also Franz and Joseph Schalk, this in no way
undermines its authorial status; it still represents Bruckner's
final thoughts on his Fourth Symphony and should be regarded as the
true
Endfassung or
Fassung letzter Hand. There is
no evidence that Bruckner "refused" to sign the
Stichvorlage. He may have omitted to do so, but this is
also true of other Bruckner manuscripts whose authenticity is not
doubted. Furthermore, there is no real evidence that Bruckner was
forced to accept revisions in order to get the work published, as
Haas claimed. The only condition that Gutmann made prior to
publication was that he be paid 1,000 fl. in advance to cover his
costs. Once this money was delivered to him, he would have been
quite happy, presumably, to print whatever version of the symphony
Bruckner sent him.
In 2004 Korstvedt issued the first modern edition of the 1888
version of the symphony for the
Kritische
Gesamtausgabe.Bruckner/Korstvedt (2004)
Composition history
The following table summarizes the Fourth Symphony's complicated
history of composition (or
Wirkungsgeschichte, to use the
critical term preferred by Bruckner scholars). The principal
sources for these data are Korstvedt (1996) and Redlich (1954). (B
= Bruckner; FS = Fourth Symphony; mvt = movement.)
- 1874
- 2 January
- 24 January
- 21 February
- 10 April
- 13 June
- 25 July
- 5 August
- 22 November
- -
- 1875
- passim
- -
- 1876
- August
- September
- -
- 12 October
- -
- -
- 1878
- 18 January
- 1 August
- 30 Sept
- 9 October
- -
- December
- -
- 1879
- 19 November
- -
- 1880
- 5 June
- -
- 1881
- 20 February
- ??
- December
- -
- 1885
- ??
- -
- 1886
- ??
- 4 June
- ??
- Summer
- August
- 1 October
- October?
- 16 November
- -
- 1887
- 3 January
- Spring?
- 9 May
- December?
- 14 December
- -
- 1888
- 22 January
- February
- 23 February
- 27 February
- -
- 9 March
- 4 April
- 15 May
- 20 June
- -
- 1889
- September
- -
- 1890
- ??
- 10 December
- 11 December
- -
- 1891
- 18 April
- ??
- -
- 1892
- Spring
- 15 June
|
- -
- B sketches the 1st mvt of his FS
- 1st mvt: sketch of score is completed
- 1st mvt: full score and instrumentation are worked out
- B begins to sketch 2nd mvt
- B begins to sketch 3rd mvt
- 3rd mvt is completed
- B begins to sketch 4th mvt
- 1st version (1874) of the FS is completed
- -
- -
- Unsuccessful attempts by B to have his FS performed
- -
- -
- B
meets the progressive music critic Wilhelm Tappert at the inaugural
Bayreuth
Festival
- Tappert persuades the conductor Benjamin Bilse to perform the
FS in Berlin
- B sends Bilse a score and a set of orchestral parts
- B writes to Tappert, declaring his intention to thoroughly
revise the FS before any performance
- He engages Tappert's efforts to recover the score and parts
from Bilse (without success)
- -
- -
- B begins to revise the FS
- B begins composition of the Volksfest finale
- 1st revision completed (1878 version)
- B writes to Tappert; another unsuccessful attempt to recover
score and parts from Bilse
- B describes the revised version of his FS and announces his
intention of replacing the Scherzo with a new "Hunt" Scherzo
- "Hunt" Scherzo is composed
- -
- -
- B begins to compose a 3rd version of the finale to replace the
Volksfest finale
- -
- -
- New finale is completed (1880 version)
- -
- -
- 1880 version premiered in Vienna by the VPO conducted by Richter; 1st premiere of a B
symphony to be conducted by someone other than B
- B makes some changes to the symphony after the first
performance, resulting in the 1881 version
- A
performance of the 1881 version in Karlsruhe
 under Felix Mottl is a
failure; 1st performance of a B symphony at which the composer is
not present
- -
- -
- B sends the score of the 1881 version to publishers Bote and
Bock of Berlin with a view to publication, but it is rejected
- -
- -
- B sends the score of the 1881 version to publishers Schott of
Mainz with a view to publication, but it is again rejected
- 1st
and 3rd movements of the 1881 version are performed at the Sondershausen Musikfest
 in Thuringia
- B
makes some further changes while preparing the score to be sent
with Anton Seidl to New York, resulting in the 1886 version
- B sends a copy of the score of the 1886 version to Anton Seidl,
who takes it to New York
- 2nd version (1878-1886) of the symphony set aside by B
- Hermann Levi sends a postcard to Viennese publisher Albert
Gutmann interesting him in the publication of the FS
- Gutmann agrees to publish the FS, but demands an advance fee of
1,000 marks (1,000 fl.)
- B writes to Levi rejecting Gutmann's terms as impossible for
him to meet
- -
- -
- B relents and agrees to Gutmann's terms when it becomes clear
that Levi will be able to raise the 1,000 fl. (does Gutmann
reveives the 1,000 fl. now?)
- B and his collaborators (Ferdinand Löwe, Franz Schalk and
Joseph Schalk) begin to revise the FS for publication
- Franz Scalk writes to his brother Joseph, telling him that Löwe
has reorchestrated much of the FS with B's approval
- 1887 version completed (partially preserved in some surviving
orchestral parts from the premiere)
- A planned performance of 1887 version in Munich under Levi is
cancelled due to the unavailability of orchestral parts
- -
- -
- 1887 version is premiered in Vienna by the Vienna Philharmonic
under Hans Richter
- The Stichvorlage (engraver’s copy of the 1887 version)
is extensively revised in B's hand, completed and dated, resulting
in the 1888 version
- B writes to Franz Schalk: asks him to thank Löwe for list of
differences between score used at premiere on 22 January 1888 and
revised Stichvorlage
- B sends Levi the Stichvorlage for a concert Levi was
preparing to give in Munich on 14 April 1888 (the concert was
cancelled when Levi fell ill)
- and asks him to have the orchestral parts amended accordingly
at his, B's, expense; attached to the Stichvorlage is
Löwe's list of revisions
- B writes to Levi: requests that the Stichvorlage and
revised parts be sent to him (Levi actually had a new set of parts
drawn up from scratch)
- 1886 version performed in New York under Anton Seidl
- B signs the contract for the publication of the FS (does
Gutmann receive his 1,000 fl. now?)
- B writes to Arthur Nikisch: the
Stichvorlage has been sent via Gutmann to the printers
Engelmann & Mühlberg of Leipzig
- -
- -
- Gutmann finally publishes the 1888 version of B's FS; this is
the first printed edition of the work
- -
- -
- Gutmann issues a corrected edition of the 1888 version
- The 1888 version is performed in Munich under Franz Fischer
(deputizing for the indisposed Hermann Levi)
- Fischer writes to B: first rehearsal has had to be abandoned;
the handwritten orchestral parts were defective and had to be
revised by a local copyist
- -
- -
- B writes to Levi, asking him to send Fischer's revised
orchestral parts to Gutmann for printing
- 3 more performances of the 1888 version take place using
Fischer's revised handwritten orchestral parts
- -
- -
- Gutmann publishes the orchestral parts of the FS (1888 version)
and another print of the full score
- 1st performance of the FS using Gutmann's printed orchestral
parts takes place in Vienna under Joseph Schalk
|
|
Instrumentation
The symphony requires an instrumentation of one pair each of
flutes,
oboes,
clarinets,
bassoons, with
four
horn, three
trumpets, three
trombones,
timpani and
strings. From the 1878 revision onwards, a
single bass
tuba is also incorporated into the
instrumentation. The published score of 1889 introduces a part for
third flute (doubling on the
piccolo) and a
pair of
cymbals.
Discography
The first commercial recording of part of the symphony was of the
scherzo from the 1888 version, made by
Clemens Krauss with the
Vienna Philharmonic in 1929. The first
commercial recording of the entire symphony was made by
Karl Böhm with the
Dresden Staatskapelle in 1936, in the
Haas/1881 version.
The versions most often recorded are the Haas and Nowak editions of
the 1880 score (referred to as the 1881 and 1886 versions in the
list above). Any modern recording that does not specify this can be
safely assumed to be one of these versions, while early LPs and CD
remasterings of old recordings are usually of Ferdinand Löwe's 1888
edition (for example, those by
Wilhelm Furtwängler and
Hans Knappertsbusch).
Eliahu Inbal was the first to record
the original 1874 version, edited by Leopold Nowak, with the
Frankfurt Radio
Symphony Orchestra. The recording is available on Teldec LPs
and CDs. Robert Haas's edition of the 1878 version has never been
recorded as a whole, although the
Volksfest finale has
been recorded individually, for example by
Georg Tintner.
Notable Recordings
1889/90 first edition
- Clemens Krauss conducting the
Vienna Philharmonic, studio
recording, 1929 (scherzo only). Earliest recording of
any part of the symphony
- Bruno Walter conducting the
NBC Symphony Orchestra, live
performance, 1940 (oldest surviving complete recording of this
edition)
- Wilhelm Furtwängler
conducting the Vienna
Philharmonic, live performance, Stuttgart, 1951 (multiple
labels)
- Wilhelm Furtwängler
conducting the Vienna
Philharmonic, live performance, Munich, 1951 (multiple
labels)
Haas edition (1936)
- Karl Böhm conducting the Dresden Staatskapelle, studio
recording for HMV, 1936 (First recording of the complete
symphony)
- Otto Klemperer conducting the
Concertgebouw Orchestra,
live performance, 1947 (Tahra)
- Bruno Walter conducting the
Columbia Symphony
Orchestra, studio recording, 1960 (Sony/CBS)
- Herbert von Karajan
conducting the Berlin
Philharmonic, studio recording, 1970 (EMI)
- Sergiu Celibidache conducting
the Munich Philharmonic, live
performance, 1993 (EMI)
- Georg Tintner conducting the
Royal Scottish
National Orchestra, studio recording, 1996 (Naxos)
- Günter Wand conducting the
Berlin Philharmonic, live
performance, 1998 (BMG/RCA)
Nowak edition of 1953, based on the 1886 copy
- Eugen Jochum conducting the
Bavarian Radio
Symphony Orchestra, studio recording, 1955 (Deutsche
Grammophon) (first commercial recording of this
edition)
- Otto Klemperer conducting the
Philharmonia Orchestra,
studio recording, 1963 (EMI)
- Eugen Jochum conducting the
Berlin Philharmonic, studio
recording, 1965 (Deutsche Grammophon)
- Sergiu Celibidache conducting
the Swedish Radio
Symphony Orchestra, live performance, 1969 (Deutsche
Grammophon)
- Karl Böhm conducting the Vienna Philharmonic, studio recording,
1973 (Decca/London)
- Georg Solti conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra,
studio recording, 1981 (London)
- Riccardo Muti conducting the
Berlin Philharmonic, studio
recording, 1985 (EMI)
- Giuseppe Sinopoli conducting
the Staatskapelle Dresden,
studio recording, 1987 (Deutsche Grammophon)
- Stanisław
Skrowaczewski conducting the Saarbrücken Radio
Symphony Orchestra, studio recording, 1998 (Arte Nova/Oehms
Classics)
- Simon Rattle conducting the
Berlin Philharmonic, concert
performance, 2006, (EMI)
Nowak edition of 1974, based on the 1876 manuscript
Nowak edition of the "Volksfest" finale, published 1981
Korstvedt edition (2004)
See also
Notes
- Constantin Floros, as reported in
- Deryck Cooke (1969) described this movement as "simply a
recasting, in 1880, of the 1878 [sic] finale into its
present form". Presumbably he meant "a recasting ... of the 1874
finale...", which is much closer to the 1880 finale than is the
Volksfest finale of 1878.
- "Introduction, (Symphony No. 4)", from
- According to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and
Musicians (ed. Stanley Sadie, 2001), the Stichvorlage
is "lost". See Korstvedt (1996) for a description of this
document.
- Mahler did cut and reorchestrate the symphony, but it was the
1888 version he altered.
- Robert Simpson (1966), for
example, whose critical estimation of the 1888 version was
damning.
- Hans F. Redlich (1954), pp. v-vi.
- Hans F. Redlich (1954), p. vi.
- Cooke (1969), p. 364.
- Benjamin Marcus Korstvedt (2004), p. 129; Korstvedt (1996),
p.21
Published editions of the symphony
References
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