Furtwängler: Best of the World War II Legacy *4 CDs Special Price*

These are phenomenal examples of Furtwangler's art in very fine transfers. I can't imagine any serious Beethoven collection being without them. With that said, these are all live concert readings in fairly rough sound, despite M&A's fine efforts. These readings really put most of their counterparts in EMI's Furtwangler Beethoven set in the shade. However, for the average listener, it will be necessary to come to terms with your willingness to choose between the inspired readings here versus the better sound of later Furtwangler performances elsewhere. Here is a brief summary of this set's contents, plus a few recommended alternatives.

Disc 1: The 1944 VPO Eroica is an incredibly white-hot reading - quite simply one of the greatest Beethoven performances ever recorded. I first owned this on a miserably transferred Vox Turnabout LP that was so sharp that the Eroica was virtually in E major instead of E flat. M & A's transfer is correctly pitched and is the finest I have heard. However, I think that most listeners may derive more pleasure from the beautiful sound of the 1952 BPO version found on Tahra 1054/7. The performance is less intense, but the sonics are vastly superior. It is also far more committed than the studio reading on EMI.

This 1943 BPO Coriolan Overture is the greatest statement of the score ever to reach my ears. What extraordinary passion and commitment! The 1944 VPO Leonore Overture is superb - it's even finer than the reading in the 1950 complete Fidelio with Patzak & Flagstad.

Disc 2: This 1943 BPO 5th has been my benchmark ever since first hearing it on a Unicorn LP. The crescendo from the Scherzo into the Finale here has to be heard to be believed - it is one of the grandest moments in all of recorded Beethoven. This 5th is also available on Tahra 272, coupled with a superb 1945 Pastoral conducted by Hermann Abendroth. The Tahra transfer is a little better, but the difference is very slight. I only play this 5th once in awhile, so as not to diminish the impact of its rather "over the top" interpretation. For more frequent consumption, I tend to play the 1937 Berlin studio (on Biddulph 006) and the magnificent 1954 BPO on Tahra 1054/7. The live 1947 BPO (on deleted M&A) is also fascinating, if a shade eccentric. All in all, the 1954 BPO on Tahra offers the best combination of inspired playing and satisfying sound.

I am rather ambivalent about this 1944 BPO Pastoral. It's VERY dramatic, but perhaps a bit too much so for the nature of the work: parts of it feel too slow, while other are a trifle hectic. The VPO studio EMI is much mellower and has better sound. The 1954 BPO on Tahra 1054/7 offers what I feel is the best trade-off: a great performance in extremely good sound.

CD 3: This 1943 BPO is THE great Beethoven 4th in my view. The 1943 BPO 7th is Furtwangler's most dramatic account - it's my favorite. However, the more measured EMI studio account is also very fine, and the sound is vastly superior.

CD 4: This stunning 1942 9th is the most dramatic reading ever. The Adagio is Furtwangler's most expansive - what incredibly rhapsodic playing! The Scherzo is magnificent. In the Finale, the extended chord before the "Turkish Music" is wonderfully inspired. The choral work is intensely committed, and the soloists are excellent (except for Tilla Briem's high notes). As with the 5th in this set, I can't listen to this performance very often - it's almost painful in its raw power. The great live 1951 Bayreuth on EMI has a much better soprano (Schwarzkopf at her very best), far better sound, and perhaps a more optimal balance of mind and heart. Both, to my mind, are absolutely mandatory listening, along with the weightier, more meditative 1954 Philharmonia from just 3 months before Furtwangler's death (best heard on Tahra 1054/7).

This M&A set is a vital component of any representative Beethoven collection. It also features notes taken from John Ardoin's "The Furtwangler Record," although Ardoin's comments on the Leonore III in this set are curiously omitted. But I am sure that anyone interested in Furtwangler will want to have the whole book anyway.

This is the cream of the crop of Furtwangler's wartime recordings. As many other reviewers have said, there is a white hot intensity here that has not been equalled by anyone in the sixty years since. However, what I would like to point out is that here you not only have great emotional expressiveness (more like an emotional explosion, especially in the Ninth), but you have great nobility and spirituality, in a way that only Furtwangler could achieve. I would like to specially mention the recordings of Eroica, the Coriolan Overture, and the Ninth in this regard. The first movement of Eroica is so perfectly paced here. Instead of the rather indiscriminate Allegro con Brio of Toscanini and most other conductors, here we have a deep, thoughtful performance, that starts at a deliberate pace, and gradually accelerates to a brilliant, thrilling climax. Also this is by far the most powerful Funeral March that I have ever heard. After I had listened to it when I first got this set, someone noticed that I looked upset; when I took a breath, I noticed not only that I was very depressed, but that my teeth hurt: the performance was so powerfully tragic that I had been grating my teeth, and was holding back tears! The highlight of this set has to be the wartime Ninth. Already the tone is set at the beginning of the first movement, with sort of a haze, and with strings playing descending fifths once in a while: as Furtwangler himself observed, what we hear is the primeval chaos. Furtwangler's primary interpretive tool here is the choice of the tempo, which gradually picks up until the theme burts forth with great force. The third movement is so beautiful. Again we have deliberate tempos (I avoid the word slow on purpose, as it has connotations of boredom); we have beauty and nobility from the start, but with each variation, we have even higher perfection and beauty; the great climax comes of itself (compare with Karajan '62: Karajan does an excellent job, but you don't sense the inner logic as you do with Furtwangler), and everything falls into place perfectly. The culmination of course is the Finale. Here Furtwangler is at his most bipolar, and I think appropriately so. He presents a vision (at least to me) of complete destruction and catastrophe, contrasted with the most heavenly beautiful and noble music ever conceived. Incidentally, I have to say that I was amazed that the orchestras (Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics) and the chorus were able to keep up with Furtwangler's vision of Beethoven in this set. The only real imperfection in performance that I have noticed out of five hours of heartstoping music is the the Vienna horns right towards the end of the finale of Eroica have a hard time keeping up, but they catch up before the very end (Oh, also the soprano in the Ninth is very, very thin on her high notes; now, if this could have been recorded with soloists of the calibre of Karajan '62, and with better sound quality, this would quite possibly be the greatest recording of the century). Also I would like to point out how powerfully Furtwangler uses the horns and the drums. Rather than smoothly integrate them into the rest of the orchestra (as Karajan usually does) or just use them indiscriminately (as so many unfeeling conductors have), Furtwangler uses them selectively to bring music that has been gathering steam for some time to a full climax, which here is a truly thrilling experience. What immediately comes to mind is the transition between the scherzo and the finale of the fifth symphony; here you have in incredible building up of sound, with a pause not long enough to break the magical spell he has set up, but just long enough to let the audience fully appreciate the drama of the moment, and then he embarks on the finale which, although thrilling from the start, gradually gathers up steam until by the end he is almost at a prestissimo (with other recordings that take the very end much slower, I get the feeling that the music is rather bombastic, but here, it follows naturally, and you don't doubt in the least Beethoven's judgement). In addition the remastering of the 3rd and 5th symphonies is beyond belief it is so good. Personally, I prefer the warm, mono sound of the Eroica here to the sterile, stereo nightmares of recent decades. Although the sound of the other symphonies is not quite at this level (with significant, but tolerable, coughing, and a notably scratchy Ninth finale), I have to feel sorry for those who cannot get past the sound imperfections to the heavenstorming performances.

I have not made my way through the entire set yet, but am moved to write about 7th and 9th.

The first movement of the 7th opens with tremendous energy. The second movement seems to stalk the nervously coughing audience, dancing its beautiful, ominous way among them.

The first time I heard the 9th was on my commute home. The third movement is sublime, heartbreaking -- I was just not ready for the affect it had on me. The music has such a gentle, compassionate, at times tragic voice, ultimately building in power to remind you that through the music you are touching the infinite, both terrible and beautiful beyond comprehension, and then returning to gentleness again after revealing the weight of its truth.

And then there's the historical context. I think that anyone who wants to gain insight into Germany, its extremes, brilliance, capacities for ecstacy and darkness, could do worse than experience this recording. I feel that I understand the country and its soul better for having heard this material.

The sound quality on the 7th and 9th is something you adapt to. For some reason the Germans taped with a high recording level so that the loud passages distorted. The sound on the 5th is much better. That said, Maggi Payne and M&A have done a superb job of reconstructing the sound from these early tape recordings. I'm very grateful to them for doing this important work.

As an aside, it's interesting to read Furtwangler's response to those advocating a literal approach to interpreting Beethoven in the accompanying notes.