The Art of Wilhelm Furtwängler

[George]

The M&A sounds actually pretty good to me - open, natural sound with presence. Based on this sample, I would not confirm, perhaps even dismiss, any superiority of the transfer on Tahra. But M&A redid these, is it not? Did they indicate the sources they used?

I believe that they did redo these, on the back of the CD case it says "Technical Reconstruction by Maggi Payne." Other than that vague description, I find nothing to indicate the source unfortunately. 

[Haffner]

I never felt like I really "got" Wagner's Tristan und Isolde until Furtwangler.

[not edward]

Has anyone ever found a good transfer of the Berlin Bruckner 7? I bought a pirate version from a second-hand shop and it becomes painful to listen to when the timpani are playing loudly (which, in Furtwangler, is often).

I've heard that the Rome version can be heard in better sound, but isn't as good (though much better than the frankly rather dull Cairo performance).

[Que]

Has anyone ever found a good transfer of the Berlin Bruckner 7? I bought a pirate version from a second-hand shop and it becomes painful to listen to when the timpani are playing loudly (which, in Furtwangler, is often).

I've heard that the Rome version can be heard in better sound, but isn't as good (though much better than the frankly rather dull Cairo performance).

Heaven't heard it, but I believe this is the only "official" issue on CD to date.
Apart from Japanese issues on EMI/Toshiba - might be well worth checking out!



Q

[Que]

For those bewildered by the different live recordings and available transfers of Furtwängler recordings - and who isn't? 

Just found this excellent (bilingual - FR/EN) Furtwängler "CD-graphy" !

NOTE:
"There are thousands of Furtwängler discographies, such as those of J. Hunt who published at least six between 1982 and 1999 (one every three years). In 1997, TAHRA published a chronological document inspired by H. Olsen's discography published in 1973 and which, according to great number of specialists, remains a reference although some items are missing, which is perhaps understandable for the time. Our aim, with the present discography, is to put at the disposal of the admirers of Furtwängler a list based on the philosophy of maintaining the chronology, listing all the recordings known to date (a number of previously unissued recordings have been added), and citing only the best CD editions. So, rather than a discography we should talk about a "CD-graphy".

We have also decided only to list official recordings, i.e. authorised labels having legal access to the original tapes:principally Furtwängler's two recording labels - Deutsche Grammophon and EMI - but also some independent labels such as Orfeo, Tahra and the Furtwängler societies, mainly the French and the German ones. So we have left out the many pirate and unauthorised editions (such as the Japanese Elaboration, Evangel or the French Arlecchino/Dante) that, being only far copies from the original, mainly serve themselves."

Q


P.S. Interestingly, these issues are mentioned as "best" for the war-time recording ('42) of the 9th - discussed earlier: French WFS/SWF/891R; Melodiya 10 00715, Tahra/Furt 1004-07.

[Great Gable]

For those of you who, like me, who had been looking for Furtwangler's Lucerne 1954 9th, this is now available...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000001OFV

I don't know what the Tahra edition was like but this is absolutely fine, sound wise.

[Que]

For those of you who, like me, who had been looking for Furtwangler's Lucerne 1954 9th, this is now available...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000001OFV

I don't know what the Tahra edition was like but this is absolutely fine, sound wise.

The Tahra already sounded exceptionally good for a 1954 live recording.
Hope the M&A sounds as good. They probably had access to the Tahra (source) material, considering the relations between the two companies - M&A is the US distributor for Tahra.

In any case: heartily second your recommendation for this recording!


BTW, Orfeo has issued a "new" (never issued) live recording of a WF LvB 9th:



[from Orfeo:]
In 1951 Wilhelm Furtwängler twice demonstrated his inspired approach to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony within a matter of only a few weeks: at the Salzburg Festival (C 533 001 B) and to reopen the first post-war Bayreuth Festival. For a long time, the unedited recording of the legendary performance on Bayreuth's Green Hill that was broadcast live to the whole of Europe was believed to be lost. It is now being issued by Orfeo in a carefully restored pressing. The impression left by the performance is overwhelming, generating the feeling that Furtwängler was always keen to create in all his interpretations: the music is in a constant state of flux, while none the less striking out in unexpected and surprising directions, notably in the Scherzo, which receives the most trenchant imaginable performance here. Such a reading is possible thanks, not least, to Furtwängler's willingness to use a risky but never arbitrary rubato at difficult musical transitions and modulations. Moreover, the playing and singing of all the participants conveys the twofold sense of tension generated by Furtwängler's energy-laden unpredictability on the one hand and by the special nature of the concert on the other. This was only the second time that Beethoven's Ninth Symphony had been performed in the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, the foundation-stone-laying ceremony for which had been marked by a performance under Wagner's own direction in 1872. The 1951 performance was like a rebirth of the Festival myth. It would be pointless to rhapsodize about the supremely high standards of the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra and Chorus, the latter including all the soloists from that summer's Festival. It says much for the high artistic status of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Elisabeth Höngen, Hans Hopf and Otto Edelmann that their individual performances stand out from this collective achievement, without distracting from the overwhelming impression of the performance as a whole. The fact that this concert was immediately hailed as "the musical high point of post-war history" will be disputed by no one who hears the authentic recording of this concert.

Q

[Great Gable]

Que - isn't that the one alreaady issued on EMI classics?

[Que]

Que - isn't that the one alreaady issued on EMI classics?

I believe the position of Orfeo is that the EMI recording is edited by using parts of different (live) performances, and that their issue presents the uncut version. To which extent the EMI version would be doctored is unclear to me, but I would not be surprised if this allegation of tinkering by Walter Legge is true. My issue of the EMI (latest incarnation) doesn't give an exact date, just: "Bayreuth, 1951"... I never really liked it BTW, a comparison with the Orfeo issue would be interesting indeed.

Q

[Great Gable]

Que - I must confess that I love the EMI issue - the sound is really good and I like the pacing - my favourite Furtwangler 3rd movement for sure.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

For those of you who, like me, who had been looking for Furtwangler's Lucerne 1954 9th, this is now available...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000001OFV

I don't know what the Tahra edition was like but this is absolutely fine, sound wise.

At the time of its release this Music & Arts transfer was hailed as the best yet. Then, in a surprise move, M&A came back a year or two later and re-released this same performance in an even better transfer - with a different cover (one which I'm unable to locate on the web).

All this is chronicled in past issues of Fanfare and when I get to them I'll try to shed more light on the subject.

At any rate, this is a great transfer but one that, from all I've read, still yields to Tahra.

[Michel]

Brilliant thread; Furtwangler is a god.

[Anne]

Brilliant thread; Furtwangler is a god.

Agreed!

[Haffner]

Brilliant thread; Furtwangler is a god.

Tristan und Isolde

[Bunny]

There's a new documentary dvd for pre-order at Naxos and Amazon about the BP during WW2 that includes footage of Furtwängler actually conducting the famous (or infamous) performance of Beethoven's Ninth for Hitler's birthday.  I'm not sure whether the documentary includes the whole performance, but the snippets shown in the trailer at the Naxos site were very interesting.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

For those of you who, like me, who had been looking for Furtwangler's Lucerne 1954 9th, this is now available...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000001OFV

I don't know what the Tahra edition was like but this is absolutely fine, sound wise.

At the time of its release this Music & Arts transfer was hailed as the best yet. Then, in a surprise move, M&A came back a year or two later and re-released this same performance in an even better transfer - with a different cover (one which I'm unable to locate on the web).

All this is chronicled in past issues of Fanfare and when I get to them I'll try to shed more light on the subject.

Well, dug around and finally got hold of the two Fanfare issues relevant to the two Music & Arts releases of this Lucerne 9th (spaced two years apart).

Fanfare (Mar-Apr 1994) speaks highly of the above linked disc but Fanfare (Jan-Feb 1996) qualifies that review by pointing to the disc's main defect: it's "a tad suspect in pitch".

The review goes on to say that M&A corrects the pitch problem in the new transfer (by Lowell Cross) and also spices up the sound as a whole.

So then here we have a successful transfer of the Lucerne 9th...so why do they turn around and reissue the 'suspect' 9th again? They own a 'proper' one...

Big shrug...

However, one note: the later review still points to Tahra as the finest of all transfers.

(BTW, same reviewer in the above Fanfare reviews)

[Bonehelm]

Just finished listening to his Brahms 1, excellent stuff! You never knew what tension means until you've heard Furtwangler...

[M forever]

I want to watch that DVD. My mother sent me the book (the original German version) a few weeks ago, but I haven't had time yet to read it. The gentleman in the Naxos trailer who speaks first, with the dark bass in the background, is my first bass teacher (BP member from 1942-85), BTW. He is 88 now! I hope he gets to say more in the documentary than just a few sentences. He told me a lot of stories about his over 4 decades in the orchestra, but also about the war. In many respects, he is very typical of that generation of German musicians. He originally wanted to study at an university (don't remember what, I think it was medicine, but I may be wrong in my recollection) but wasn't allowed to because the family wasn't politically on the right track enough. So he studied music in his home town Leipzig with the principal of the Gewandhausorchester and graduated just in time to be drafted into the Wehrmacht and be sent to the Eastern front where he was taken POW, escaped and somehow made his way back to the German lines, was sent back to the front again where his right arm was torn to shreds by grenade splinters. They actually wanted to amputate but he told them he still needed the arm before he passed out, and the doctor looked in his file and saw he was a musician, so he decided to give it a try. That worked, even though his right hand was badly deformed and he had big chunks of flesh missing from the arm. Then he was discharged and allowed to go back home where he spent a few months practicing intensely, and then he took two auditions, one in Altenburg in Saxony, in a tiny theater in the deepest province, and one for the BP a little while later. He won both auditions, and to the consternation of the people in Altenburg, he decided to take the job in Berlin...Apparently, they were really upset in Altenburg and gave him a hard time because he had already accepted the position, but he told me that it was probably the better decision to join the BP than to go to Altenburg 

[MichaelRabin]

I want to get a Beethoven VC played by Erich Rohn & Furtwangler. Which mastering is best - the DG, Andromeda or the Melodiya?

[Que]

I want to get a Beethoven VC played by Erich Rohn & Furtwangler. Which mastering is best - the DG, Andromeda or the Melodiya?

I haven't heard transfers of this particular recording. But based on other transfers of Furtwängler recordings I suppose the choice would be between Opus Kura, who make transfers from early Melodiya LP's, and Melodiya itself, who either do the same or use an earlier generation copy of the original tape than DG. Andromeda is a pirate, so who knows where they got it from.

 

Q