Committment Factor: About 32 minutes.

Vital Statistics: Modern Period. A symphony in four movements.

What to Listen For: Audiences expecting anything like the meditative beauty of the composer’s 3rd Symphony were stunned by the 4th. The first movement opens in a mood of apoplectic rage: you can practically see the composer’s fist in your face. The symphony is a cyclical work. Listen for the two motifs it’s built around, announced within twenty seconds of the opening: two descending minor seconds, and a series of ascending chords. The second movement starts with the ascending motif and continues on in a threatening mood. The scherzo (”joke”) movement is only slightly lighter in tone — the joke, if that’s what it is, is a nasty one. Note the grotesque middle section, with its tuba solo. Note the “oompah” bass line in the fourth movement, and the rather scary fugal epilogue built on the first of the four-note motifs. After a final restatement of the symphony’s opening bars, the music ends with the angry finality of a door slamming shut.