Search - Alfred Walter, Wilhelm Furtwangler, Czecho-Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra (Kosice) :: FURTWANGLER: Symphony No. 1

Great symphony competently performed but inferior sound qual

Homer | 06/19/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Furtwaengler's symphonies are directly of the Austro-German tradition created by the romantic masters such as Bruckner and Brahms. They are not really master pieces (maybe with the exception of No.2), but are great works from a composer who knows how to write music of substance. This is particularly precious in an age when almost everybody else could not help his desire for "originality" and ridiculed himself with the fundamentally corrupted neo-classicism, impressionism, atonalism and other rubbish-isms.



However, the quality of the recording is questionable. The sound is dry, low, and lifeless. At full price, the disk doesn't offer good value either. A recent recording of this symphony from the bargain label Arte Nova with Staatskapelle Weimar conducted by Albrecht is more recommendable, though the symphony, at 83 minutes, is spreaded on 2 disks. This minor inconvenience can be bypassed if one overburns it onto a single disk."