# Best and Worst Recordings: Furtwängler



## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

I originally wasn't going to do this one, but here goes.

Furtwangler once stated in a rehearsal that he could if he wanted to provide a conventional clear beat, and he then demonstrated it. But then he added that this was not the effect he wanted. Indeed, he was rumored once to have labeled Toscanini a "bloody time beater." For Furtwängler, merely playing together as an ensemble was low on his list of priorities. What he wanted was color, line, shape, and above all an authentic conveyance of the unique spiritual nature of everything he conducted. Every aspect of his bodily movements was intended to bring out these qualities, not merely to beat time in the pursuit of precision. One illustration is that when asked why he stood while conducting Parsifal at Bayrueth, where he was not seen by the audience during its four hour duration, his reply was, "Because it sounds different when I sit."

There are some on this board who say they "don't hear" what others do in Furtwangler performances. They only hear the nuts and bolts - tempos, ensemble, and sound quality. We all prioritize different things. But what you cannot deny is that countless others have heard and attested to the same unique qualities of this legendary conductor since the beginning of his career and continuing now 65 years after his death. One such testimony comes courtesy of the author John Ardoin:

It was my good fortune to know and spend time with Maria Callas, about whom I have previously written three books. She often amazed me with previously unsuspected areas of interest, but never more so than one day in August 1968. She was in Dallas recovering from a fall in which she had cracked several ribs. I picked her up one day for a doctor's appointment, and as I started the car, the radio came on. A symphony was being played. When I reached over to turn it off, she said, "No, leave it. The Beethoven Eighth is a favorite of mine.

That was a surprise - a soprano, even a Callas, who loved and recognized Beethoven's Eighth! As I drove and she listened, Callas became more and more impatient. "That phrase is wrong. Where's the line going? No! What's he doing there? It doesn't breathe. Oh, this is nonsense." We reached the doctor's office before the record had finished, and she insisted on sitting in the parking lot until the end to find out who the conductor was. After the final chord, the announcer said, "You have just heard a performance of the Eighth Symphony of Beethoven with the Cleveland Orchestra conducted by George Szell."

"Well, she sighed, "you see what we have been reduced to. We are now in a time when a Szell is considered a master. How small he was next to Furtwängler." Reeling in disbelief - not at her verdict, with which I agreed, but from the unvarnished acuteness of it - I stammered, "But how do you know Furtwängler? You never sang with him."

"How do you think?" She stared at me with equal disbelief. "He started his career after the war in Italy. I heard dozens of his concerts there. To me, he _was_ Beethoven."​
*The Best*


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

First, this sensational EMI set is available for $20 from Arkiv this weekend. Even Amazon has it for over $60. There are many extraordinary great recordings: the Brahms symphonies, a complete Beethoven symphony assembly, that incendiary Tristan, and Fidelio. Couple this set with the recent Berlin Philharmonic release and you have some stunning music making the likes of which we'll never have again - maybe for good and bad.








The Best: Tristan und Isolde. No question in my mind.
The Worst: his own Symphonic Concerto. No one, not even Wilhelm could make that thing sing.


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

mbhaub said:


> First, this sensational EMI set is available for $20 from Arkiv this weekend. Even Amazon has it for over $60. There are many extraordinary great recordings: the Brahms symphonies, a complete Beethoven symphony assembly, that incendiary Tristan, and Fidelio. Couple this set with the recent Berlin Philharmonic release and you have some stunning music making the likes of which we'll never have again - maybe for good and bad.
> View attachment 122465
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> ...


Killer deal! Unfortunately I am not much of a Furtwängler guy, or I would have definitely ordered it immediately. Surely someone else will derive a lot of joy from this post though. Maybe I'll even convince myself to take the chance.


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## Johnnie Burgess (Aug 30, 2015)

mbhaub said:


> First, this sensational EMI set is available for $20 from Arkiv this weekend. Even Amazon has it for over $60. There are many extraordinary great recordings: the Brahms symphonies, a complete Beethoven symphony assembly, that incendiary Tristan, and Fidelio. Couple this set with the recent Berlin Philharmonic release and you have some stunning music making the likes of which we'll never have again - maybe for good and bad.
> View attachment 122465
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> ...


Just ordered it.


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

Johnnie Burgess said:


> Just ordered it.


Me too!!!!!!


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

mbhaub said:


> First, this sensational EMI set is available for $20 from Arkiv this weekend..


Thanks for the heads-up!


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

Damn it, guys... I did too... :lol:

They are definitely going to sell out of their whole inventory. What an amazing deal, 21 CDs for 23 bucks shipped... more Furtwängler than I'll ever need, but I'm sure there are some phenomenal interpretations in here. 

Many thanks mbhaub for tipping us all off to this. Maybe in a few weeks, now, I'll be able to actually have a response for this thread.

One thing I'll say re: Furtwängler, is that his Brahms 1st symphony with the NDR Symphony is amazing. Probably the first Brahms symphony recording I ever really enjoyed.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

mbhaub said:


> First, this sensational EMI set is available for $20 from Arkiv this weekend. Even Amazon has it for over $60. There are many extraordinary great recordings: the Brahms symphonies, a complete Beethoven symphony assembly, that incendiary Tristan, and Fidelio. Couple this set with the recent Berlin Philharmonic release and you have some stunning music making the likes of which we'll never have again - maybe for good and bad.
> View attachment 122465
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> 
> ...


Thanks! Grabbed it!


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## Johnnie Burgess (Aug 30, 2015)

Arkivmusic must be wondering what caused this rush of orders.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

mbhaub needs to ask for a referral fee.


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

*The Worst*

It makes me cringe knowing that this limp EMI studio effort is likely the first and maybe the last version of Furtwangler's Beethoven 5th people get to know. It is a tame representative of his vision of the work and no where near as good as the wartime, both 1947s and the 5/23/54. At least the coupled 7th is an excellent version.










*Back to the Best*

As I said in another thread, if you value a mix of sound quality and performance, without a doubt the choice Beethoven Furtwanglers are these:

3rd - 12/8/52
5th and 6th - 5/23/54

These are packaged differently amongst different labels. Audite offers them in a larger box, but nothing beats the sound quality of this Tahra offering, still available last I checked on Amazon for around $12. This is the recording I would recommend first to anyone encountering Furtwangler for the first time:










This 1953 DG offering of the 7th and 8th is a clear winner, among the best Furtwangler you can find in both performance and sound.










And finally the 1954 Lucerne 9th on Audite. I marginally prefer the famous 1951 Bayreuth (on Orfeo, not EMI), but you cannot go wrong with this one either, and the sound quality is superb for Furtwangler.


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

^I reckon that's the Beethoven 5 and 7 included on that box set we all just ordered. Damn, I hope you're wrong. :lol:


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

That's probably the one - it's what EMI has in their catalog, so it is what it is. It's not that bad, though. There are multiple recordings of most of the nine, and each is so different. In general though, his best 5ths were from Berlin.


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

Most of the EMI is VPO, including that 5th


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

Regarding my Beethoven recommendations above, if you prefer complete sets, Andromeda released all those performances in a live Symphonies Nos. 1-9 collection. I cannot comment on the transfers, but the performances are definitely better than the EMI set. And it is super cheap.



















For Brahms and Bruckner, Music & Arts have made things very easy for us combining all of Furtwangler's best performances into complete sets.



















All of this can then also be complemented with Furtwangler's essential wartime Beethoven, also collected into a convenient collection by Music & Arts. Arguably this is the most essential single Furtwangler set on the market along with his EMI Tristan


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## Guest (Aug 12, 2019)

All I have is the Beethoven 9th on EMI (part of their GROC series) in passable mono. I listen to it from time to time, but it isn't one that I go to frequently. Beyond that, I haven't listened to enough of his recordings to have an opinion one way or the other.


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

For me, there's nothing more dramatic than his tremendous performances during the war years in Germany at the time the country was being run by those he despised. As the conditions grew worse the better everyone sounded and that kept something positive and alive in spirit until the country could start over and rebuild itself. I consider his performance of the Beethoven 7th heroic and epic. These seemed more than just concerts; they were like life and death with everything hanging in the balance, with everything riding on the line.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

DrMike said:


> All I have is the Beethoven 9th on EMI (part of their GROC series) in passable mono. I listen to it from time to time, but it isn't one that I go to frequently. Beyond that, I haven't listened to enough of his recordings to have an opinion one way or the other.


I'm among those who don't think that the 1951 Bayreuth 9th is one of Furtwangler's better Beethoven recordings, or even a particularly good 9th at all. To hear WF at his best, I think that you need to look elsewhere. For Beethoven, his wartime recordings are a better place to start, and IMO, his Bruckner is unsurpassed by anyone, living or dead.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Larkenfield said:


> For me, there's nothing more dramatic than his tremendous performances during the war years in Germany at the time the country was being run by those he despised. As the conditions grew worse the better everyone sounded and that kept something positive and alive in spirit until the country could start over and rebuild itself. I consider his performance of the Beethoven 7th heroic and epic. These seemed more than just concerts; they were like life and death with everything hanging in the balance, with everything riding on the line.


This 7th is a perfect of example of Furtwangler's art. The opening chord is smeared, not together in the least - and that's what he wanted. Then there's that thrilling finale beginning at a moderate tempo and oh so carefully accelerating so at the end it's breathless. Not what Beethoven wrote, but it sure works. So many baton wavers these days play the finale at the same fast tempo throughout and can't figure out why the electricity isn't there. Of course, if Furtwangler had lived another 30 years and had the advantage of modern recording methods, critics would have been all over him for ignoring what the composer wrote.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

mbhaub said:


> This 7th is a perfect of example of Furtwangler's art. The opening chord is smeared, not together in the least - and that's what he wanted. Then there's that thrilling finale beginning at a moderate tempo and oh so carefully accelerating so at the end it's breathless. *Not what Beethoven wrote, *but it sure works. So many baton wavers these days play the finale at the same fast tempo throughout and can't figure out why the electricity isn't there. Of course, if Furtwangler had lived another 30 years and had the advantage of modern recording methods, critics would have been all over him for ignoring what the composer wrote.


Just a small point then! :lol:


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

DavidA said:


> Just a small point then! :lol:


From what I've read Beethoven played his own compositions with a sense of improvisation. I doubt he would have minded an acceleration that enhances the effect he was aiming for.

Now the accelerando at the end of the 9th is more questionable IMO. Not because it's not indicated, but because I question whether or not it really works. One of the few times I question Furtwängler's choices.

He does the same with the end of the Brahms 4th, but that sounds perfectly natural to my ears.


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## Aurelian (Sep 9, 2011)

After about a minute of the first movement of the 9th, I stopped listening. Much too slow. This was from Vienna, I think.


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## Kollwitz (Jun 10, 2018)

The Music and Arts Brahms and Bruckner sets are brilliant. I think I like Furtwängler in Brahms above all else. The accelerando at the end of Brahms 4 mentioned above works as an utterly appropriate and tragic conclusion to the symphony.

This rehearsal video from 1948 shows his way with it rather well, despite the very poor sound.





The famous Tristan, NDR Brahms 1, wartime Brucker 8 (the Musical Concepts transfer in the OP has the best sound of versions I've heard) and 9 are particular favourites. His incomplete recording of Bruckner 6 (missing first movement) is much favourite of that symphony: he makes it say something that others don't.


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

Aurelian said:


> After about a minute of the first movement of the 9th, I stopped listening. Much too slow. This was from Vienna, I think.


How can you judge a recording after only a minute, particularly Furtwängler when the tempos change and the whole point is how the entire structure fits together?


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Brahmsianhorn said:


> From what I've read Beethoven played his own compositions with a sense of improvisation. I doubt he would have minded an acceleration that enhances the effect he was aiming for.


This is true for most music before the mid-20th century.

But for the obviously greater difficulty in achieving it, there is no reason why orchestral music shouldn't be played with the same expressiveness and flexibility as piano music.


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

Kollwitz said:


> The Music and Arts Brahms and Bruckner sets are brilliant. I think I like Furtwängler in Brahms above all else. The accelerando at the end of Brahms 4 mentioned above works as an utterly appropriate and tragic conclusion to the symphony.
> 
> This rehearsal video from 1948 shows his way with it rather well, despite the very poor sound.
> 
> ...


My only slight quibble with the M&A Brahms set is that I have a slight preference for the 1949 Wiesbaden 4th over the wartime, though both are great. The 1949 has even more energy and is more elastic, less heavy. That Wiesbaden concert also includes my favorite Mozart 40.










Here is the Brahms. Just masterly. Sound is MUCH better on the Tahra issue than anything you can find on YouTube though.

Listen to the coda of the first movement at 12:00 for a taste. Furtwangler slow and ponderous? People should listen through to the ends of movements.


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## Johnnie Burgess (Aug 30, 2015)

Brahmsianhorn said:


> How can you judge a recording after only a minute, particularly Furtwängler when the tempos change and the whole point is how the entire structure fits together?


If it was by M Cobra it would not take a minute to decide.


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## howlingfantods (Jul 27, 2015)

Best - a very long list, that includes the 1950 La Scala Wagner Ring, the wartime Beethoven 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th, the Lucerne Beethoven 9th, the Brahms 3 and 4th (I like the 1949 and 1948, respectively). The casting is not great but I love the conducting on his Meistersinger

Worst - maybe the 1954 studio Die Walkure, it fails to catch fire and sounds tired. Not that fond of his studio Fidelio from 1953 either. The studio Beethoven 5 isn't one of his best. Not sure I totally buy his Sibelius.

These aren't exactly "bad" though, just maybe not that magical.


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

The real deal...









Great introduction to Wagner and Furtwängler.


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

Larkenfield said:


> For me, there's nothing more dramatic than his tremendous performances during the war years in Germany at the time the country was being run by those he despised. As the conditions grew worse the better everyone sounded and that kept something positive and alive in spirit until the country could start over and rebuild itself. I consider his performance of the Beethoven 7th heroic and epic. These seemed more than just concerts; they were like life and death with everything hanging in the balance, with everything riding on the line.


A great performance for sure. I will say though that I prefer the later DG 1953 as my favorite version of this symphony. Not only excellent sound, but the interpretation is perfect, full of majesty and joy, with the thrilling acceleration in the final bars.






The DG coupling from the same concert is his greatest 8th, a clinic of Beethoven conducting.


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

A few more great ones.

Someone mentioned his 1950 La Scala Ring cycle, one of the greatest complete Rings on record. The 1937 Ring excerpts from Covent Garden offer some of the most intense Wagner ever recorded.










After Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, and Wagner, the next composer with which Furtwangler was most closely identified was Schubert. His 1953 concert of the 8th and 9th offer the perfect combination of thrilling interpretation and full-bodied sound. Tahra offers them together, but they are also in the large Audite box set as well as an Audite single recently released from Japan.










His 1938 Tchaikovsky studio Pathetique is legendary - a Penguin Rosette - but I prefer the live 1951 Cairo performance. More intense and greater presence despite being live. It has been issued by DG in some hard to find incarnations, unless you get the Furtwangler DG box set which contains some excellent performances. Otherwise it is also offered by Pristine.










My favorite recording of Don Giovanni, with an incomparable cast from Salzburg. The 1954 EMI is recommended for better sound, but he achieved greater intensity the year before with virtually an identical cast. There is a sense of purpose permeating this entire interpretation of Mozart's great score that I have never heard anywhere else. My desert island recording of any Mozart opera.










And of course the beautifully recorded Schumann 4th - another Penguin Rosette - famously recorded in a single take as Furtwangler detested the recording process and became impatient with it. Next to the EMI Tristan, this may be the most universally admired Furtwangler recording due to the combination of interpretive authority, sound quality, and availability.


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## Agamenon (Apr 22, 2019)

flamencosketches said:


> Damn it, guys... I did too... :lol:
> 
> They are definitely going to sell out of their whole inventory. What an amazing deal, 21 CDs for 23 bucks shipped... more Furtwängler than I'll ever need, but I'm sure there are some phenomenal interpretations in here.
> 
> ...


*

* Same to me. a miracle.


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## Agamenon (Apr 22, 2019)

Schumann 4th symphony is another peak!


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

howlingfantods said:


> Worst - maybe the 1954 studio Die Walkure, it fails to catch fire and sounds tired.


Perhaps because this was my "imprint" Walkure, I disagree. If it fails to catch fire, I think that it's largely the fault of the rather flawed cast. It's a shame that WF died before he could record the rest of the Ring in Vienna (and even more of a shame that he didn't have better singers, like Flagstad and Hotter, for this Walkure).


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

The trouble with Furtwangler is that there are so many recordings knocking around of the same works in different performances, some better remastered than others. Many of them appear (and disappear and reappear) on obscure labels. Many of them are good but unless you invest a lot of time and attention you often don't know what you are buying. And then there are the less good ones. For me the EMI "References" set of Beethoven symphonies contains performances that are far from the best I have heard from Furtwangler - indeed, it is not a set I would recommend - and if I had stopped at that I would never have heard what the man was capable of with LvB!


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

Enthusiast said:


> The trouble with Furtwangler is that there are so many recordings knocking around of the same works in different performances, some better remastered than others. Many of them appear (and disappear and reappear) on obscure labels. Many of them are good but unless you invest a lot of time and attention you often don't know what you are buying.


Well, that's what this thread is for!


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

^ Which would be OK if a good few of us knew the range and the field - and I am not sure that is the case - and if it were possible to identify whether or not I already have a recommended one but from a different label. It is a useful thread but Furtwangler remains a bit difficult to collect (unless you have a real "collector's mindset"). Still, he may have been the greatest conductor of the last 80 years.


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

Enthusiast said:


> ^ Which would be OK if a good few of us knew the range and the field - and I am not sure that is the case - and if it were possible to identify whether or not I already have a recommended one but from a different label. It is a useful thread but Furtwangler remains a bit difficult to collect (unless you have a real "collector's mindset"). Still, he may have been the greatest conductor of the last 80 years.


Very true. We are lucky that there is so much interest in remastering Furtwangler, but it does make things confusing.

For the newbie, the best places to start are:

- Music & Arts WWII Beethoven boxset
- EMI Wagner Tristan und Isolde
- Music & Arts Brahms boxset
- Music & Arts Bruckner boxset


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## howlingfantods (Jul 27, 2015)

wkasimer said:


> Perhaps because this was my "imprint" Walkure, I disagree. If it fails to catch fire, I think that it's largely the fault of the rather flawed cast. It's a shame that WF died before he could record the rest of the Ring in Vienna (and even more of a shame that he didn't have better singers, like Flagstad and Hotter, for this Walkure).


Perhaps I'm overstating it, but relative to the Walkure performances from 1950 La Scala and the 1953 RAI, I think the studio recording is the least compelling of the three. I agree that I still would have wanted a full studio Ring out of him notwithstanding that comparison though.


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## howlingfantods (Jul 27, 2015)

Brahmsianhorn said:


> Very true. We are lucky that there is so much interest in remastering Furtwangler, but it does make things confusing.
> 
> For the newbie, the best places to start are:
> 
> ...


I know the set of Furtwangler fans and the set of anti-Pristine naysayers overlaps quite a bit, but I'm a fan. I think you could do a lot worse than picking up the Pristine sets of his Wagner, Beethoven, Brahms and Bruckner sets (although in the case of Brahms, I prefer the non-set 3rd and 4th that they also have)--In many cases, I replaced those EMI and M&A versions with the Pristine versions, which were consistently significantly better sound quality (sometimes almost unbelievably so) over the others.

Edited to add--there's also an excellent collection of radio broadcasts from the late 40's/early 50's on Audite that is laughably cheap for mp3 download from Amazon--$18 for 13 cd's worth of music. A lot of these are performances that aren't in earlier M&A or EMI collections and are in very good SQ being from the original RIAS tapes.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008VPVNGQ


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

I thought I read before that Act 3 of that 1954 Walkure had to be conducted by Karajan


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

howlingfantods said:


> Perhaps I'm overstating it, but relative to the Walkure performances from 1950 La Scala and the 1953 RAI, I think the studio recording is the least compelling of the three. I agree that I still would have wanted a full Ring out of him notwithstanding that comparison though.


I have the 1953 Walkure and the cast is a disappointment in spite of Furtwangler's conducting. Neither Modl or Rysanek are in good voice and Franz is frankly awful. As Hotter was available (and at the time in good voice) I don't know why they didn't have him as Wotan.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Brahmsianhorn said:


> I thought I read before that Act 3 of that 1954 Walkure had to be conducted by Karajan


That was the Bayreuth performance of 1952


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## howlingfantods (Jul 27, 2015)

DavidA said:


> I have the 1953 Walkure and the cast is a disappointment in spite of Furtwangler's conducting. Neither Modl or Rysanek are in good voice and Franz is frankly awful. As Hotter was available (and at the time in good voice) I don't know why they didn't have him as Wotan.


Furtwangler refused to work with him after he had some vocal difficulties in the late 40s.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

howlingfantods said:


> Furtwangler refused to work with him after he had some vocal difficulties in the late 40s.


Nothing like Franz's vocal difficulties!


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

wkasimer said:


> Perhaps because this was my "imprint" Walkure, I disagree. If it fails to catch fire, I think that it's largely the fault of the rather flawed cast. It's a shame that WF died before he could record the rest of the Ring in Vienna (and even more of a shame that he didn't have better singers, like Flagstad and Hotter, for this Walkure).


Agree. The only singer I enjoy on that set is Klose, who is still an authoritative Fricka despite her age. Frantz and Suthaus are past their primes, Rysanek sounds vocally unsettled as she often did, and Modl is an acquired taste I will never acquire.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Woodduck said:


> Agree. The only singer I enjoy on that set is Klose, who is still an authoritative Fricka despite her age. Frantz and Suthaus are past their primes, Rysanek sounds vocally unsettled as she often did, and Modl is an acquired taste I will never acquire.


I actually like Suthaus here - his dark, baritonal sound suited the role of Siegmund pretty well.


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

It may not be the most familiar work around, but Furtwangler's wartime Sinfonia Domestica is one of the great Strauss recordings in existence. It's coupled with an excellent wartime Don Juan on a DG single, or you can get the DG boxset (1942-22 recordings, volume 2) which includes Till Eulenspiegel.


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

Brahmsianhorn said:


> It may not be the most familiar work around, but Furtwangler's wartime Sinfonia Domestica is one of the great Strauss recordings in existence. It's coupled with an excellent wartime Don Juan on a DG single, or you can get the DG boxset (1942-22 recordings, volume 2) which includes Till Eulenspiegel.


I just saw this on vinyl yesterday and passed it up. Someone must have just brought in a huge Furtwängler collection to this store cuz they had a ton of stuff. It's too bad I'm not really collecting vinyl at the moment.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

I don't often find Furtwangler as fetching as many though I have favorites. Among them:

-- Brahms Symphony 4 from 1949 Wiesbaden concert.

-- Mahler Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with Alfred Poell 1952

-- Richard Strauss Four Last Songs with Kirsten Flagstad 1950, one of the greatest recordings in history of any music.


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## RobertJTh (Sep 19, 2021)

Brahmsianhorn said:


> For Brahms and Bruckner, Music & Arts have made things very easy for us combining all of Furtwangler's best performances into complete sets.


Those are great - but it's a pity that M&A didn't include the 1949 Berlin 7th instead of one of the 1951 (Cairo or Rome?) performances.
Maybe I imprinted on the 1949 because it was one of my first serious encounters with Furtwängler. It came in a super-budget Centurion Classics cd box together with other historic Bruckner (G.L. Jochum, Abendroth for 4 and 5 (great!), Kna and Furtwängler for 7, 8 and 9). Wouldn't recommend it because the documentation was extremely chaotic and erroneous - wrong dates and even orchestras and conductors - it took me some time to figure the who, where and when with help from John F. Berky's Bruckner site. But the performances were a revelation.
The 1949 7th has superior sound too, much better than the 1951 incarnations. But there's that incredible 1942 adagio too, which challenges even his wartime 9th in intensity.


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## Brahmsianhorn (Feb 17, 2017)

I actually like the 1951 Rome performance the best, even though the 1949 Berlin is better recorded. I think the Rome is more inspired. The M&A set actually includes the 1951 Cairo, which was also issued by DG. All three are very good and represent Furtwängler at his best, especially in the Adagio.


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