Bruckner: Symphony No. 4

Günter Wand's Bruckner recordings have established him as perhaps today's premier Brucknerian, and this live concert performance of the Romantic with the Berlin Philharmonic can only cement that reputation. The octogenarian German conductor favors broad tempos, deep orchestral tone, and attention to detail that lends transparency to Bruckner's thick textures. To these admirable attributes add the spontaneity of a concert performance, which here means touches of rubato and little accents and stresses not always associated with the studio recordings of this conductor, whose interpretations usually eschew individualistic mannerisms. For those who care about such things, Wand plays the Haas edition. The orchestra is superb and the recording effective, putting this among the finest available traversals of this popular Bruckner work. --Dan Davis