Furtwangler's Beethoven cycle

[12tone]

Has Furtwangler only one cycle or does he have a couple / few? What set do you recommend? Or if no set, than what singles?

I've become interested in it from how much people talk about it. Why not give it a shot

[Brendan]

The only complete 'set' I know of (which I don't think was deliberately recorded as a cycle) and have is the post-war with the Vienna Philharmonic. There are incomplete sets of wartime recordings. The wartime fifth and ninth, at least, are essential WF recs.

[Holden Fourth]

There is only one recording of #2 so I guess that there is only one cycle.

[Peter Schenkman]

The Furtwangler discography situation has always been something of a mess. Henning Smidth Olsen published the first discography of his that I was aware of circa 1970 and I suppose for its time was reasonably accurate and complete. At that point there was no recording of the Second Symphony of Beethoven. Now we know that’s not quite true, there is a recording from October 3, 1948 with the Vienna Philharmonic given at The Royal Albert Hall in London, the only Furtwangler led performance that seems to exist. For those looking for an easy way of hearing Furtwangler’s Beethoven Symphonies in toto the best way to go is investing in the Music & Arts issue (#942) which has them all on five CD’s. On balance it’s a good point of departure although certain symphonies such as the “Eroica” can be bettered in my opinion.

Peter Schenkman

[Barry]

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[Barry]

As has been alluded to, Furtwangler never actually recorded a complete cycle of the symphonies. There are no studio recordings of him conducting the ninth, and for the most part, his best available performances of Beethoven are live, and not available in a single set.

I think the best starting point for Furtwangler's Beethoven is another one on Music & Arts, cat. no. 4049, that is a four disc set of symponies 3-7 and 9, along with the Coriolon and Leonore III Overtures. All are live wartime recordings. Some of the most intense Furtwangler on record is in this set. My top picks for symphonies 4, 7 and 9, as well as the two overtures are in there. I personally prefer various post-war performances of symphonies 3, 5 and 6. For the Eroica, I recommend the Dec. 8, 1952 BPO performance or a 1953 VPO performance that is part of the EMI Great Conductors of the Century Furtwangler set. The '52 performance may be harder to find now. I have it on an out-of-print Tahra set. They may have re-issued it. I'm not sure.

For the fifth, I recommend the performances from May 25 and May 27 of 1947. These were his first post-war BPO performances, and they are extremely dramatic. The 5/27 performance is probably available in one or more of the various DG Furtwanger sets out there and the 5/25 performance is probably best heard on Tahra, cat. no 1016, although I'm guessing it's also available on other lables.

The best sixth in my view is the one from May 23, 1954 with the BPO. Again, it's been out on Tahra and Music & Arts. I don't know if it is now. Their catalogs can be viewed at www.musicandarts.com and www.tahra.com (they give performance dates too, and a handfull of the old Tahra releases are still available on the M&A site).

I've got a good, up-to-date discography bookmarked at home. I'll post it later.

edit: Here it is: http://my.dreamwiz.com/fischer/Furtwang ... graphy.htm