Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 "Romantic.".(Sound recording review)

Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 "Romantic." Kurt Sanderling, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks. Profil PH05020.

Kurt Sanderling began his musical career in 1931 and worked steadily in the field, mostly as a conductor, until he announced his retirement in 2002. He was a contemporary of almost every important maestro of the twentieth century, he recorded a huge number of works for various labels, and his name is familiar to most classical-music listeners. It's surprising, then, that he was never fully able to break into the highest echelon of musical geniuses. Perhaps this recording of Bruckner's "Romantic" Symphony provides a clue.

While everything about the performance is in place, it never seems to take off, to soar, to inspire the way others do. The "Romantic" was Bruckner's only program symphony, with the composer telling us what each movement was supposed to represent, from knights riding out of a medieval castle at dawn to the sounds of the forest and birds to a hunting song and large-scale summary in closing. More important, the symphony is one of Bruckner's most-beloved works, probably because of its easily communicated grandeur and nobility of spirit. Bruckner was, above all, a profoundly spiritual man, and his music illustrates that spirituality.

Yet Sanderling's interpretation ...