FURTWÄNGLER conducts Brahms Symphony No. 2, Double Concerto (1952) – PASC341 Les magasins à Paris

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FURTWÄNGLER conducts Brahms Symphony No. 2, Double Concerto (1952) – PASC341
overviewfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fBRAHMS Symphony No. 2
BRAHMS Double Concerto
Recorded in 1952
Total duration: 75:57

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Willi Boskovsky, violin
Emanuel Brabec, cello
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler
578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9review_titlefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fFanfare Review578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9review_quotefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fThe Double Concerto receives a distinctive performance578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9review_bodyfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f

We are so accustomed to analyzing the interpretive
depth Wilhelm Furtwängler achieved that we often forget what a
technically gifted conductor he was. As these remasterings by Andrew
Rose reveal, Furtwängler could get the most gorgeous sounds out of an
orchestra. His baton technique certainly was idiosyncratic, but he had
no trouble attaining what he wanted. He also was an indefatigable
rehearser. Georg Solti relates in his Memoirs
Furtwängler’s pleasure at Salzburg when Solti told him how much better
the Vienna Philharmonic played for Furtwängler than for Karajan. Much of
Furtwängler’s sway over an orchestra derived from sheer force of
personality. A member of the Berlin Philharmonic tells of how when
rehearsing under another conductor, the orchestra’s sound changed
entirely after Furtwängler just walked into the hall. Thanks to Andrew
Rose, we now can hear how central the concept of sound was to
Furtwängler’s interpretations of Brahms. There is much beauty of thought
here certainly, but the sonic sybarite will derive much pleasure as
well. Brahms was a great craftsman, and the importance to him of
creating lovely sounds should not be underestimated.

As a composer, Furtwängler could take the
occasionally disparate elements of Brahms’s First Symphony and find
inherent structure and drama. The introduction to the first movement is
almost conversational, summarizing and prefiguring the subsequent drama
like a Shakespeare prolog. The Allegro
possesses weight and gravitas. It alternates between reverie-like
fantasy and the onslaught of fate. The movement maintains a noble
character, even when tragedy lurks around the corner. Nevertheless the
movement never seems episodic—its transitions are finely judged.
Furtwängler treats the slow movement as an intermezzo, with phrasing
that is highly vocal and operatic. It acts both as a pause in the drama
and an intensification of the feelings so far evoked. The third movement
is a quasi scherzo. Its B section (like a trio) brings back life’s
rough and tumble, before fate in the brass and in pizzicato strings mark
the return of the A section: an allusion to the brass in the third
movement of Beethoven’s Ninth. That symphony is even more eloquently
drawn upon in the final movement. Its introduction portrays whole worlds
passing before our eyes, then disappearing. Suddenly, the great string
tune brings us to a place of peace and satisfaction. This is followed by
excitement, even at times jubilation. An ominous shadow eventually
falls over the music, which the coda pushes aside—leading to the triumph
of the great brass chorale. Furtwängler resists the temptation to speed
up from here, and the symphony ends on a majestic note.

Furtwängler’s Haydn Variations are
unusually somber, slower than his December 1943 Berlin recording. The
statement of the theme offers lovely wind and horn choirs; the
uniqueness of the instruments used by the VPO contributes a special
glow. Furtwängler’s tempos allow for the articulation of all the
instrumental parts, including some often glossed over. The third
variation contains a slight horn bobble. The fourth and seventh
variations could stand alone as genre pieces, small elegies. The finale
is alternately stately and tender, evincing an emotional vulnerability
rare for any conductor. The three Hungarian Dances are
hardly mere fillers. No. 1 features gorgeous, elegant string playing.
In No. 2, Furtwängler creates a real gypsy feeling. He revels in the
kaleidoscopic orchestration of No. 10.

Furtwängler’s Brahms Second is less strikingly
individual than his First, but it is no less persuasive. In large part
it is a showcase for how well the Berlin Philharmonic can play. Four
years earlier, in 1948, Furtwängler made a studio recording of the
Second with Eduard van Beinum’s London Philharmonic. Although the
timings of both performances are similar, the LPO version sounds more
reflective, perhaps marking Furtwängler’s reaction to traditional
English string sound. The Berliners offer more fire power than the LPO,
and their reading under Furtwängler not surprisingly sounds more
extroverted. The naturalness of the interpretation reminds me of William
Steinberg’s LP, although his Pittsburgh Symphony does not ascend to the
heights of the BPO. Furtwängler’s first movement is a brilliant study
in light and shadow, like the clouds in a painting by John Constable.
The brass have a field day. The next movement features phenomenal string
playing. The coloring of the orchestra here makes me think of Vaughan
Williams’s “Pastoral” Symphony, a reminder that Brahms’s Second has been
called his “pastorale.” The third movement is truly grazioso,
with elegant winds and subtle strings. In the last movement,
Furtwängler unleashes the orchestra to brilliant effect, with meditative
sections alternating with something like mania.

The Double Concerto receives a distinctive
performance. It is a relaxed partnership between soloists and conductor,
with plenty of give and take. Admirers of the more propulsive versions
by Toscanini and Szell may be disappointed. The soloists, first chairs
of the VPO, can stand comparison with more renowned players. Willi
Boskovsky is well known as both soloist and conductor, while cellist
Emanuel Brabec made a superb recording of Strauss’s Don Quixote
with Lorin Maazel. In the opening dialog between the soloists, Brabec’s
tone is especially rich and woody. Furtwängler’s basic tempo in the
first movement’s tuttis strikes a golden mean, although he leaves the
soloists a lot of latitude. The second movement is lovely, played with
great affection by Boskovsky and Brabec. The tempo for the last movement
is measured, yet everyone displays genuine passion.

The Vienna recordings all were made in the Great
Hall of the Musikverein, and are excellent monaural. The Second
Symphony, from the German Museum in Munich, is slightly muddy in places
but otherwise quite fine. When Furtwängler recorded the Second Symphony
with the LPO he insisted on a single microphone. It would be worth
knowing whether he made the same requirement here of EMI. If you are
interested in stereo CDs of these works, I would recommend Bruno Walter
in the First and the variations, Antal Doráti in the Second, and Gidon
Kremer, Mischa Maisky, and Leonard Bernstein in the concerto. Andrew
Rose should consider remastering Eugene Ormandy’s late 1950s LP of the
First Symphony, a reading of poise and elegance. Furtwängler, as usual,
is indispensable to a fuller understanding of this music. These new
remasterings heighten our appreciation of this conductor’s feeling for
Brahms’s beauty and sensibility, and as such are warmly recommended.

Dave Saemann

This article originally appeared in Issue 36:2 (Nov/Dec 2012) of Fanfare Magazine.

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Two major live Brahms recordings from 1952

Furtwängler’s Brahms has never sounded as superb as this!

Both of these live recordings were made in the year of
1952 at a time when technical sound quality was undergoing a
revolutionary step forward thanks to the advent both of tape and vinyl
LP technologies almost simultaneously. However the equipment of the day
was not without its sonic shortcomings, and both of these recordings
suffered a slightly harsh, boxy sound quality in their original states.
Fortunately this can now be largely remedied by Pristine’s 32-bit XR
remastering system, which has made great strides in improving the tonal
qualities of both the Symphony and Concerto recordings.

In both cases the orchestras played slightly sharper
than the standard A=440Hz, and I’ve used careful analysis of electrical
tones captured in both recordings from mains interference as a guide to
set pitch precisely to that heard at each concert. The end result of
this work is to bring us closer than ever before to the sound of these
concerts as heard by Furtwängler and his 1952 audiences.

Note that the lack of applause and movement breaks were as found on my source material.

Andrew Rose

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• BRAHMS Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73
  Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
  Transfer from EMI LP SG 153-53668 M 
  Recorded live, 7 May 1952, Deutsches Museum, Munich

• BRAHMS Double Concerto in A minor, Op. 102
  Willi Boskovsky violin 
  Emanuel Brabec cello
  Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
  Transfer from EMI LP SG 153-53669 M 
  Recorded live, 27 January 1952, Großer Musikvereinssaal, Vienna 

  
  Wilhelm Furtwängler conductor
  

XR remastering by Andrew Rose at Pristine Audio, May 2012
Cover artwork based on photographs of Brahms and Furtwängler

Total duration: 75:57

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Review Double Concerto

The Double Concerto was recorded at a live performance. Willi Boskovsky had been the VPO’s concertmaster since 1939, and Emanuel Brabec was the orchestra’s principal cellist. The acoustic is a little confined, and the solo cello seems to catch the microphone slightly, but the balance is reasonably good and the sound itself quite clear. The performance starts unpromisingly, with fairly ordinary contributions from the soloists and a rather heavy tutti from Furtwangler, but as the first movement procedes a greater spirit grows, and soon soloists and conductor establish a good rapport. The stow movement is given a lovely, serene performance, although the finale is taken at a dangerously slow tempo. There are some good touches here but a somewhat strained, impatient quality in the solo playing, as if Boskovsky and Brabec wanted to escape from the orchestra’s somewhat lumbering presence. This is a flawed performance, then, but it has thought-provoking and stimulating qualities too.

A.S., Gramophone September 1990

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