Furtwangler: Beethoven – Symphony no.9, Lucerne 1954 (FLAC)

Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra London
Conductor: Wilhelm Furtwangler
Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
Audio CD
SPARS Code: ADD
Number of Discs: 1
Format: FLAC (image+cue)
Label: Tahra
Size: 233 MB
Recovery: 3%
Scan: no

01. Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso
02. Scherzo: Molto vivace
03. Adagio molto e cantabile
04. Presto
05. Allegro assai – Presto
06. Allegro assai vivace, alla marcia
07. Andante maestoso – Allegro energico, sempre ben marcato – Prestissimo

Elisabeth Schwarzopf, soprano
Elsa Cavelti, contralto
Ernst Haefliger, tenor
Otto Edelmann, bass

Choer du Festival de Lucerne, Albert Jenny
Philarmonia Orchestra

Wilhelm Furtwangler

Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony a Tour de Force

Probably a large part of the earth’s population at one time or another has heard part of or all of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Those of us who have lived a considerable time on this earth have heard many performances of this great work. I have listened to this work so many times that very little of it surprises me. But Maestro Furtwangler’s 1954 performance dazzled me, surprised me, letting me listen to Beethoven’s harmonies and orchestration performed with thoughtful artistry. My first impression of the first several minutes was at the beauty of actually hearing the instrumentation play in concert with each other. I wondered why I had never before heard a Beethoven Ninth recording with each section of the orchestra so clearly pronounced. In the past other performances came off monolithically fast, sounding as though there were one dominant melody. As I listened to Maestro Furtwangler 92nd performance of this work, I could only marvel again and again at his subtle, masterful touches.

One last comment: I am usually not fond of recorded live performances, but the end of this tour de force left me applauding right along with the audience. I felt as though I had truly heard Beethoven for the first time!