Search - Bruckner, Furtwangler, Vienna Philharmonic Orch :: Symohiny 5 in B Flat (Original Version)

A powerful, visionary reading, but the sound is wretched

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 03/07/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A decade ago lovers of Furtwangler had to settle for many off-air transcriptions that came in wretched sound, but now, with so many refurbished and remastered tapes, the pickings are much better. I had hoped that this Dokumente release of the Bruckner 5th from Salzburg in the summer of 1951 would feature improved sonics -- after all, the original tapes were available to Radio Austria -- but alas, there's scant improvement. Bass is negligible, and Bruckner's magnificent sound world has been squeezed into the dimensions of a table-top radio. The only good news is that there's no tape hiss, pops, or crackles, and the pitch is steady.



I notice that Henry Fogel, a noted Furtwangler expert, places this reading below the wartime 1942 account in terms of overall tension, calling the later one soft-grained. Perhaps, but one still has to admire such an incandescent interpretation, so free, expressive, and flexible in phrasing that nobody else quite compares. The 3-star reviewer (who gets his dates wrong for both this concert and Furtwangler's death year, 1954) seems far off base to favor a literalist like Gunter Wand over a poet like Furtwangler. Taste is personal, but he has the basic facts wrong: this interpretation could be described as blazing and visionary. "Tired" is not even close.



In the end, no one can afford to miss this Bruckner Fifth on musical grounds, but the sonics are a serious impediment, especially to newcomers."

Unsurpassed and sublime performance!

Hiram Gomez Pardo | Valencia, Venezuela | 09/19/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"
Nobody can deny there have been many notable Brucknerian conductors, but no other has been capable to conduct Bruckner like Furtwangler did it. The endless and untiring emphasis to undertake his symphonies with a sense of admirable cohesiveness and organic unity, so he conducted this work as it was a huge corpus with multiple interconnections, with such vividness, splendid sonorities and robust vitality. His approach was certainly beyond a simple musical performance, because he was aware Bruckner wrote for the eternity, that sensation of grandness should be listened and felt through every single detail f his works.



This historical performance Salzburg August 19 1951 is still a matter of discussion, despite the elapsed years, due the visceral impact generated over the audience.



If it's true the quality of sound is not the best possible, the transcendence of such work transcends by far those details.



Because it's not only the superb, majestic and epic approach given by him in the rostrum; besides I can make sure you will never listen another finale so powerful, grateful and hair-raising, like this one.



Go for this legendary record as soon as you can.

"