Search - Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (SOP), Elsa Cavelti (ALTO), Ernst Haefliger (TEN) :: Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 (Hybrid SACD)

Gott sei Dank!!! It's back!

The Cultural Observer | 01/21/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I had been scouring the market for years for a copy of this recording, and by some miracle of God I finally found it! What's even better is that it is issued by Tahra, the label that so assiduously remastered this incredible and landmark performance of the 9th in its finest incarnation. Tahra dropped the CD from their discography for a number of years, and only late last October did it make its way back into the market as a Hybrid SACD. We should be utterly grateful for its reemergence into the public domain as this is the 9th as no other conductor would ever play it again. It is not a studio recording, nor is it like the much acclaimed 1951 Bayreuth performance a document captured by professional engineers. What this is is a representation of Furtwängler's art at its loftiest and most spiritual. There is a sense of serenity and spirituality here that isn't captured in other performances of the work, even of those by the same conductor. The galvanizing and impacting 1942 account from Berlin was a powerhouse of emotion, but it didn't have the balanced sense of violence and reverence that makes this 9th an essential to any music lover's library. By this time in his life, Furtwängler was aware that his days were numbered, and there is this sense that he had begun to understand life and its myriad complexities. He would die a little bit more than three months later, thus ending a great legacy of music that continues to inform listeners about his mastery of the art form.



Wilhelm Furtwängler was the apex interpreter of the works of German masters. Not only did he have that sure grasp of the architecture and line that allowed him to take liberties with the score. The conductor was also a Teutonic philosopher who understood the German spirit as no other did during his time or after. His stylistics may not appeal to the modern listener taken by a class of Beethoven and Germanic performance afflicted by lightness and speed. Furtwängler instead sticks to tradition and creates a cushion for the music to flow and wrench the listener with its power and beauty. No one, not even Klemperer, could muster the kind of depth and intensity that he invests in the first movement of the 9th. It's not granitic like Klemperer's, but rather an incredibly profound tidal wave of philosophical and artistic thought and unbridled emotion that can capture you in the breadth and awesomeness of its sweep. The second movement is not as swift as most listeners are accustomed to after Karajan's sapped 9th from the 60's, but rather a struggle for heroism in an age where the days of gods and heroes are a mere anachronism. The third movement is Furtwängler's greatest testament to mankind. No one captures that unusually profound spiritual depth and serenity that he brings out of the score. And of course, there is the last movement, rapturous and joyous in its scope and unparalleled by few save Barenboim, Fricsay, and Klemperer. His soloists are Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Elsa Cavelti, Ernst Häfliger, and Otto Edelmann, great singers of the past who understood the conductor's art and spearheaded the choir into Schiller's poetry.



The Philharmonia Orchestra serves Furtwängler well and creates the right tone and depth for the multiple colors that the conductor draws out of the orchestra. Simply said, there is no greater 9th."

Best sounding Furtwängler I've ever heard!

Agilityman | Ohio, USA | 07/03/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I concur with the other two reviews posted to date. This is a disc for the ages.

Let me just add that, when I contemplated this purchase, I was wondering how much a difference a 24-bit, 192 kHz, Super Audio CD would make, for a 55-year-old mono sound source? In a word, enormous! After a few minutes, you hardly notice it's mono, and the highs sound as fresh and airy as a modern disc.

This is one of the finest, if not THE finest, Beethoven Ninths ever recorded. Don't let the fact that it's mono discourage you! (The comments on the sound apply to the SACD layer of the disc; I haven't yet listened to the CD layer.)"

A Must Have CD

Robert Manari | San Francisco, CA United States | 06/29/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Furtwangler regarded Beethoven's Ninth Symphony as one of the great monuments of Western civilization and always saved its performance for special occasions. Of Furtwangler's twelve live recordings of the Beethoven's Choral Symphony known to exist (he never recorded it in a studio), three stand out as being the greatest of the great: a 1942 Berlin Philharmonic concert, the 1951 Bayreuth Festival and the 1954 Lucerne Festival. The 1951 EMI release is undeniably the most famous one for the publicity surrounding the reopening of the Festival Hall at Bayreuth after the Second World War. Many regard this edited recording as the best of Furtwangler's Ninths on record. It is without any question a magnificent and passionate reading, full of lyricism where the sense of the special occasion makes it even more appealing.



My personal favorites are the 1942 BPO concert (Opus Kura for the best transfer), and the 1954 Lucerne Festival (the present Tahra on SACD). The 1942 performance is by far the most dramatic and impassionate of all Furtwangler's 9ths. Pulsating throughout with white hot intensity, this frightening reading was Furtwangler's violent personal protest against the wartime Nazi atrocities surrounding him. At the opposite spectrum stands Furtwangler's personal favorite, the 1954 Lucerne performance, recorded just two months before passing away. Knowing that this was likely his final Ninth, Furtwangler left us a superb introspective, spiritual and meditative reading. It is overall a slower but much more profound and moving performance, making Furtwangler to remark to his wife that he felt he had one foot in the other world that night....



Of all Furtwangler's Ninths this Tahra release provides the best balance of splendid performance quality and offers the richest overall recorded sound. It does certainly belong in any serious collection.

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