Search - J. Brahms :: Furtwangler Conducts Brahms - Complete Symphonies, etc / North German RSO, Berlin PO

Furtwaengler's Titanic Brahms

Thomas F. Bertonneau | Oswego, NY United States | 10/10/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The redoubtable and somewhat enigmatic Wilhelm Furtwängler (1883-1954) has gone from being the interest of a few aficionados of old recordings to being an industry, and a whole range of entrepreneurs (on the one hand) and fly-by-night artists (on the other) have attempted to cash in on his charisma. Obviously there is a demand for Furtwängler. Whenever something meritorious comes into demand, then that, I'd say, is a good thing; but the very proliferation of recordings and the large variations in production-value make entering this niche-market of the classical music scene at this moment a fairly tricky endeavor. One rule of thumb (although it is not hard and fast) is to shy away from Italian reissues, as these generally copy material the effort to make which in the first place belongs to someone else - even though source materials might be in public domain. Two outfits who deal in responsible products and who, in one incarnation or another, have been helping music-lovers to explore Furtwängler for a long time, are Music & Arts of Berkeley, California, and Tahra Productions of Bézons, France. For now, I want to recommend an item from the M & A catalogue, their 4CD set of Furtwängler's 1940s interpretations of the four Brahms symphonies and of the Piano Concerto No. 2. This set collects the best of the many WF "takes" of these works, starting with the legendary 1951 Hamburg traversal of the First Symphony, notable for two characteristics: (1) It is the single most cosmic and hair-raising performance of this remarkable symphony ever captured on tape; and (2) the mastertape, from the archives of North German Radio, an extraordinary example of high-fidelity monophonic broadcast sound. The Second Symphony comes from a late wartime concert in Vienna (January 1945) and is also of high quality. The Third Symphony comes from a short time before WF's death and was made, in Berlin, in April 1954. Then there is the Fourth Symphony, from Berlin, 1943, taped by German Radio on one of their then-new Magnetophon recorders. Like the Hamburg First, the Berlin Fourth from 1943 is legendary. It is Titanic in conception and execution and sounds like the very Apocalypse itself in the Finale. No one who listens to these readings will ever approach Brahms with the same attitude again. The 1942 "take" of the Second Concerto, with Edwin Fischer as soloist, is also a towering performance, although here not even M & A's valiant efforts at sonic reconstruction can entirely make up for the quality of the sources. Brahms, with Beethoven, Bruckner, and Wagner, lay at the core of WF's repertory. Anyone looking to take up the WF phenomenon for the first time would be well advised to start with this magnificent introduction. Tasteful packaging and excellent notes, to boot."

The best Brahms cycle I have heard so far

uncertain terms | IL | 04/17/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Furtwangler cycle of Brahms is comething special indeed. The sound leaves much to be desired, but trust me, after you hear the performances you will never want to hear Brahms any other way (no matter how good the sound is)!! This cycle is raw, uninhibited, fierce, probing, tragic but above all powerful. Take the finle of the 4th symphony as an example. It is played at a faster pace of any other recording I have heard of the piece. At the end the variations played on strings are almost a little sloppy. But playing them at that tempo gives the overall movement such great power, spontaniety and drive that it does'nt matter. These performances are should be the gold standard for all others. No other brahms cycle comes ever close."

Furtwangler's best Brahms symphony recordings

Into | everywhereandnowhere | 03/01/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"...all in one set! I'm not going to jump on "madamemusico's" one-star review too much, since she has certainly gotten her share of well-earned unhelpful votes, but I don't know what the hell the argument that Brahms is a "classicist" has to do with anything. The way I look at it, Brahms may have been a classicist with regard to form, but he had heart and soul of a romantic, so I don't understand what precludes his symphonies from being played as full-blooded romantic music. Just admit you don't like Furtwangler, and don't taint the ratings here with personal biases. 'Nuff said on that subject.



"Brahms music is boring and his orchestration is too thick," is one of my least favorite of the countless cliches' about romantic era composers and their music. When I worked at a record store several years ago, I was playing a really good and exciting recording of a Mendelssohn symphony, and a lady came in and, after listening to it for a few minutes, she asked, "What is this? It's really good." "Mendelssohn's (I think it was the 3rd) Symphony," I responded. "Really?!" she said, surprised; "I thought Mendelssohn was boring." "That's because you've never heard any GOOD Mendelssohn," I said. She bought the CD. I am not a big Mendelssohn fan, but the point of this anecdote is that you frequently get the same kinds of opinions about Brahms, based on cliches' about his music that preclude people from giving it serious consideration: "Oh yeah, Brahms; thick and boring. Not my cup of tea." Then you hear some GOOD Brahms, and you are a fan for life.



I would not pretend that this is the only Brahms set you should have. The sound quality is variable, and Furtwangler's style is unique, but if you have any interest in Brahms' symphonies, and you have some more modern recordings that you like, then you really need to have this one; esp. since you can probably get an inexpensive copy on the Marketplace.



I have listened to many of Furtwangler's numerous Brahms recordings, and there is no question in my mind that M&A have assembled the best ones here. Part of the magic of Furtwangler's Brahms is that, despite the weight of the sound that he gets from these great orchestras, plenty of detail can be heard, and surprisingly little apology needs to be made for the sound, even though these recordings are from widely different sources.



Brahms recorded multiple good Brahms' Firsts, but this one from 1951 with Schmidt-Isserstedt's wonderful Hamburg orchestra is my favorite, and it has the best sound of any Furtwangler Brahms recording. The Tahra release of the First has slightly better sound than the M&A, but not enough to diminish the appeal of this set. The wartime Second might have the most thrilling account of the wonderful finale ever recorded. The Third, recorded in the last few months of Furtwangler's life is deeply ruminative, and is the most idiosyncratic of all of the readings here in that much of it is very slow, but it is easily the best of his Thirds, and I find it to be a uniquely satisfying reading. It has often been commented on the Brahms' music has an autumnal feel to it, and it seems to me that this is particularly explicit in the Third, with its luminous woodwind coloring, esp. the clarinet parts: the third was the last of the Brahms symphonies that I fell in love with-- courtesy of the Szell recording--and there is a palpable feeling of deep autumnal reflection in Furtwangler's reading, esp. in his achingly beautiful account of the third movement; and in the closing bars of the quiet coda, you can almost see the last autumn leaves slowly wafting down to the earth. The wartime Fourth is one of the most overtly tragic readings you will ever hear, with an amazing forward thrust to the finale; again, this is easily Furtwangler's best reading.



The fact that there are later Furtwangler Brahms recordings with somewhat better sound is not really a factor, such is the quality of the performances assembed in this M&A set. If you have this set you don't really need any other of Furtwangler Brahms symphony recordings. The EMI References set is good, but those performances are all runners-up to all of those in this set."