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Furtwängler at his finest in two live performances of Brahms
"The sheer force and magnetism here is irresistible, and were I forced to choose only one it would be this" - Fanfare
When I remastered a set of Brahms recordings for
The XR remastering techniques used on these recordings have gradually evolved over the 8 years since they were first developed, helped along by technological advances in the fields of audio restoration and digital signal processing, and the results of these gradual advances can be heard to full effect here, especially in the marvellous 1949 recording of the third Brahms symphony presented here. It is interesting to note the remarks of an uncredited reviewer for Gramophone's website, who remarks on the sound being "fragile" and the audience "intrusive". Whilst the latter was certainly true of the original recording, I've taken out a large number of coughs and sneezes from that December Berlin audience, and where not possible to entirely eradicate them, the vast majority have been reduced in volume to a non-intrusive level. As for the sound? Here you will find no fragility: the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra is full, clear, rich and vital in this XR remaster, fully conveying ‘the energy of becoming, inexorability and the force of onward motion’ Furtwängler identified with this work.
The earlier recording of the Fourth Symphony, from October 1948, proved slightly more troublesome from a sonic perspective, with slightly more hiss and less top end extension, but I've managed to make those differences almost imperceptible - certainly the fullness and richness are both there to be savoured, with all the "drama and thrust" of the performance fully present.
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BRAHMS Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90
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BRAHMS Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98
Berlin Philharmonic OrchestraBrahms Symphony No. 3: Recorded 18 December, 1949
Brahms Symphony No. 4: Recorded 24 October, 1948
Live performances, Titania Palast, Berlin
Wilhelm Furtwängler, conductor
Fanfare Reviews
Someone wandering into a room where this Brahms Third under Furtwängler was playing would scarcely believe his ears
When considering “historic”
recordings, the quality of reproduction is a more important factor than
is often noted. Here, for example, are two stunning restorations by
The importance of color in
Furtwängler’s conducting is often undervalued by commentators. We often
hear about his approach to phrasing, his tempo relationships, his great
attention to dynamic shading. But in fact the foundation of
Furtwängler’s conducting was orchestral sonority and color. He built his
sound from the bottom up, starting with a firm foundation of basses and
cellos (as well as low brass where appropriate), and the balance of
weight of different instrumental groups was of crucial importance to his
conducting. Similarly the blending of voices, the voicing of chords,
the varying degrees of vibrato, all were areas on which he clearly spent
a great deal of time in his rehearsals, either verbally or simply
through gesture. Thus it is critical that we hear Furtwängler
performances in the best and most vibrant possible transfers. Both of
these performances have been available before (just about every recorded
note of the conductor has been preserved and issued in some form). Both
have been heard on relatively good transfers on the EMI and Audite
labels. But somehow
There is a level of ferocity and
intensity in the 1943 Furtwängler Brahms Fourth (also issued by
Pristine) that is not equaled here—but that is so flame-filled that it
is best savored for an occasional hearing, so it doesn’t lose its
ability to shock. What we have here are two extraordinarily strong,
individual performances, performances that clearly matter to the
conductor and the musicians playing them, and performances that sweep
the listener along on a sea of momentum. For the Third Symphony there is
a 1954 Furtwängler performance, also on
Both of these performances demand to
be heard by anyone who cares about 19th-century symphonic music and the
performance tradition that underlies the art form. We should be deeply
grateful to
Henry Fogel
This article originally appeared in Issue 39:5 (May/June 2016) of Fanfare Magazine.
Someone wandering into a room where this Brahms Third under Furtwängler was playing would scarcely believe his ears. If the moment happened to be during the development section of the first movement, he’d be overwhelmed by the seismic eruption of passion and the Berlin Philharmonic’s almost shocking power. For a long time the experience of such a performance was either denied or imperfect. Baby boomers are the core of experienced listeners and dedicated collectors. When we were young, music-making associated with the Third Reich was impermissible. Even the trickle of Furtwängler’s postwar LPs that reached North America sounded alien, considering that the 1950s were the era of a deified Toscanini—the two maestros enjoyed a mutual antipathy to each other.
But that’s old news, and with the
emergence on CD of hundreds of Furtwängler performances, the most
cherished being from live concerts, the other problem—imperfect audio
quality—is being addressed. Boutique and specialty labels such as Tahra
and Andante led the way by gaining access to orchestra and radio
archives, but the acknowledged leader in historical restoration is
Technology will no doubt carry us further in the future, particularly if historical remastering can benefit from software that takes limited frequency response and replaces it with updated instrumental sound comparable to modern recordings. That day hasn’t arrived yet, so you won’t be sitting in the Titania Palace in full stereo. But it’s glorious to be sitting there in the first place.
Huntley Dent
This article originally appeared in Issue 39:6 (July/Aug 2016) of Fanfare Magazine.