Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 'Romantic'

Bruckner was an abundance of contradictions: full of naivety but fascinated by politics, a writer with conviction but plagued by self-doubt, an eternal student with a passion for teaching, a lover of improvisation fascinated by the strictest musical forms. Stephen Johnson explores how all of this fed into his 4th Symphony, and uncovers why the composer might have decided to break from his usual habit and give it a published nickname: 'Romantic'.