Anton Rubinstein’s massive Fourth Symphony, although on the surface similar in size and scope to the symphonies of his contemporary Bruckner, lacks the latter composer’s thematic distinction and strong sense of structural unity. Instead, Rubinstein’s melodic material is rather mediocre in quality (sounding like a pale imitation of Mendelssohn), and his seemingly endless repetition of it throughout the sprawling 22-minute first movement serves only to reinforce this fact. His developments are plainly episodic, but at least he knows how to compose a compelling coda. After a moderately emotive slow movement and a gargantuan scherzo (more than 16 minutes), Rubinstein attempts to close out the symphony with a Grand Finale, but once again the material refuses to congeal, although the central section intrigues with its delightful echoes of Tchaikovsky’s early tone poems (i.e. The Storm, or Fatum). Robert Stankovsky continues his tireless advocacy of the composer, leading an energetic and disciplined performance with the Slovak State Philharmonic. As with other Marco Polo reissues from this source, the recording is cast in a reverberant acoustic, with an emphasis on higher frequencies.
