Bruckner completed the score of the Third Symphony on the night of New Year's Eve 1873, and directly began working on the sketches for the first movement of the Fourth on 2 January 1874. He completed it after eleven months ‘at about half-past eight in the evening’ of 22 November 1874.

Yet ‘completed’ was often a relative state in Bruckner's case. In 1878 he created a second version, replacing the scherzo with a new one, the Hunting Scherzo, and composing a new final movement with the title Volksfest (traditional fair). The Volksfest is consequently the original final movement of the second version. The next revision of 1880, later edited prior to publication, represented a completely new final movement.

Together with the first three movements of the second version, this finale of 1880 formed the final version, which was published in November 1889 after renewed revision. Fifteen years had passed since the first draft. Bruckner had in the meantime produced other symphonies - the second version of the Eighth had been published in 1889/90. The second version of the Fourth Symphony was premiered by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under Hans Richter in February 1881. The next performance, this time of the final version, did not take place until January 1888, again conducted by Richter.

Bruckner himself called the Fourth his ‘Romantic’ symphony, making it the only one to have a name. Is that perhaps why it has become his most popular symphony?

The present recording is based on the edition of Prof. William Carragan, which is oriented towards the Nowak Edition. It is shorter and much catchier than the version performed normally. The strings have the upper hand here instead of the brass, but the four horns do resurface with reminiscences of the first movement.