Anton Bruckner
Bruckner was an organist and a church musician before he was a symphonist, and his symphonies are built the way an organist builds: in blocks. A section of sound is set up, allowed to run, then stopped, often with a complete silence, and a new block begins at a different dynamic and often with different instruments. Following him means listening for those joins rather than for continuous melody.
His first movements usually have three theme groups rather than two, and the exposition is long. Slow movements are the emotional centre and can run twenty minutes or more. The scherzos are fast, insistent and repetitive, built on one rhythm hammered out. The finales try to gather the whole work together, and in the Eighth the four main themes of the work sound together at the end.
A practical warning. Bruckner revised his symphonies repeatedly, and pupils and editors published versions he did not authorise. The Fourth exists in versions from 1874, 1878 to 1880 and 1888, with different scherzos and finales; the Eighth exists in 1887 and 1890 versions. Bar numbers and even whole passages differ between them, so a timing that fits one version will not fit another. This catalog names the version used.
What to listen for
- Silence as punctuation. When the orchestra stops completely, a new block is starting.
- Tremolo strings at the opening: the Fourth and the Eighth both begin with a quiet string haze out of which a horn or a theme emerges.
- The third theme group in the exposition, which Bruckner usually marks with a change to a dance-like or chorale-like character.
- In the Eighth's finale, the moment near the close where themes from all four movements are stacked together.
Source: Anton Bruckner