It was greatly admired by my late father when i played it to him about twenty years ago. Johannes brahms, wilhelm furtwangler, north german radio orchestra, berlin. The ninth symphony, conducted by furtwangler at the reconsecration of the bayruth. Edwin fischer piano, north german radio orchestra, berlin philharmonic. He said that the stuff brahms was writing in the 1890s is extremely old fashioned, he actually said it wasnt much different harmonically from schuberts music from 70. This particular furtwangler recording of brahmss second symphony has long. Beautiful achievement, especially of the brahms 2nd symphony, a recording that it is fashionable to deal by the contempt, despite its actual value.
Just to give you an idea of the difference between the two sets, i went back to my ranked furtwangler recordings from the previous page. Furtwangler conducts brahms complete symphonies, etc. Furtwangler broadcastsrecordings wilhelmfurtwangler. Emi sent me the brahms symphonies on a three cd set with wilhelm furtwangler.
Wilhelm furtwangler the classical composers database musicalics. Finally confident in his abilities as a symphonist, and less troubled by the looming shadow of beethoven, brahms created a much more spontaneous work that was well. Arthur honegger wrote of this work, the man who can write a score as rich as this is not to be argued about. Brahms variations on a theme of haydn is a very old favourite and i have owned it in several incarnations.
Czech national symphony orchestra creative commons attribution 3. As i really only knew the brahms 4th symphony prior to. Wilhelm furtwangler sheet music and music books at sheet. Brahms is harder to conduct than any other major composer. He one said that sibelius was the last survivor of the great impressionists, of the strausses, the debussys, the.
Wilhelm furtwangler, berliner philharmoniker the radio. A conductor has to have this music in his heart in addition to his head. Youll find a wide selection of wilhelm furtwangler sheet music, songbooks, and music books at sheet music plus. Furtwangler wrote some very condemning things about late brahms, or at least prima facie they sound condemning. The 9 symphonies box set 5 out of 5 based on 0 ratings. The radio recordings between 1939 and 1945 with the berliner philharmoniker and wilhelm furtwangler are among classical musics most compelling sound documents. Chandos records is one of the worlds premier classical music record companies, best known for its ground breaking search for neglected musical gems. This is top ears first comprehensive, and the work featured is one of the towering works of the 19th century symphonic literature brahmss fourth symphony. Furthermore, although i recognise that andrew rose has done wonders in restoring and preserving this terrific performance of the fourth symphony from 1943, for the purposes of general listening the 1948 version on emi is easier on the ear and freer of the bronchial eruptions which mar the december 1943 concert, when the berlin audience sound. To me the sound offered on this warner sacd is significantly better than the sound of the 1945 performance on the urania set. Brahmss fourth symphony is regarded as the pinnacle of his symphonic writing. Click a category to see all compositions of wilhelm furtwangler in that category. Wilhelm furtwangler, genius forged in the cauldron of war. Brahms symphony 2 pristine audio pasc585 dd classical.
Furtwangler, walter and jochum are my three favorite brahms conductors. When considering historic recordings, the quality of reproduction is a more important factor than is often noted. Furtwangler berlinerphilharmoniker brahms symphonie 2 1952 live. Order from your preferred classical music cd store. Most of his childhood was spent in munich, where his father taught at the citys ludwig maximilian university. The single surviving movement from berlin in january 1945 is however. The first symphony was actually recorded in the studio in 1942 or 1944, no one seems sure but that performance has had a strange afterlife. This little essay gives us insights into how the maestro understood brahms, and this may be the first english translation. Mozart, johannes brahms, wilhelm furtwangler, berlin philharmonic orchestra. Furtwangler berlinerphilharmoniker brahms symphonie 2 1952. His father adolf was an archaeologist, his mother a painter.
This difficulty arises because theres more to his works than the surface of the score indicates. Recorded at a berlin philharmonic rias broadcast in 20 june 1950, it is, i suggest, the preferred version under furtwangler. Orchestra bells composed by wilhelm furtwangler 18861954. There is little debate that beethoven is one of the greatest composers, and his music is in no better hands than german born wilhelm furtwangler.