**** (out of 4)
"There can’t be a finer way for the Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal to celebrate its 30th anniversary than with this solid recording of Anton Bruckner’s most popular symphony, No 4. You can thank the organization’s superstar music director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who appears to be able to bring out the best in any musician he encounters in his globetrotting life. This is the conductor’s fourth recording of Bruckner symphonies with the orchestra. The unbroken tension that Nézet-Séguin brings to the music is ideal for carrying a listener through the vast stretches of instrumental space in the composer’s later works... the intensity of this interpretation makes for a succession of aural goosebumps, and the orchestral playing is superb."
John Terauds - Toronto Star - 31 October 2011
"... this is a convincing and attractive reading. The recording captures every note with clarity." ****
Blair Sanderson - All Music - 1 November 2011
****
Paul E. Robinson - La Scena Musicale - 1 December 2011
****½
Christophe Rodriguez - Le journal de Montréal - 12 November 2011
"The response from the judiciously balanced full orchestra is consistently precise, electric and blessed with a contagious enthusiasm and attention to dynamic shading that renders even the most meandering passages of Bruckner’s rambling discourse riveting. The performance utilizes the 1936 Haas edition in splendid studio sound recorded at Québec’s Église Saint- Ferdinand. Some may consider Nézet-Séguin’s overtly theatrical approach rather over-the-top in the Scherzo movement, where he drives his forces into a Berliozian frenzy, but for my money this is one of those rare Bruckner performances that commands my complete attention."
Daniel Foley - The WholeNote - 1 March 2012
Performance **** Recording ****
"...This is a very beautiful Bruckner Fourth Symphony, by an increasingly interesting Bruckner conductor. Although Yannick Nézet-Séguin stresses Romantic warmth of sonority and richness of mood, it’s remarkable how textured the orchestral sound is. We don’t just hear the leading melodic lines, but also the echoes, imitation and counter-melodies that often get pushed into the background. It’s refreshing to hear Bruckner’s orchestral writing brought to life on so many levels, captured faithfully by the recording."
Stephen Johnson - BBC Music magazine - Awards Issue 2012
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