Wilhelm Furtwangler, Berliner Philharmoniker – The Radio Recordings 1939-1945 (2019) [22x SACD Set] SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

The radio recordings between 1939 and 1945 with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Wilhelm Furtwangler are among classical music’s most compelling sound documents. Created at the peak of the collaboration between orchestra and conductor, Furtwangler’s artist personality is conveyed more vividly than anywhere else. What can be heard is music in which inspiration and the expressive will know no bounds and in which, not least, the existential experience of the Second World War reverberates. For the first time, the Berliner Philharmoniker are releasing a complete edition of these recordings.

At the end of World War 2 the Red Army occupied Nazi Berlin, and in the Haus des Rundfunks on Masurenallee a musically literate Soviet officer called Konstantin Adzhemov took from the sound archives around 1,500 classical music tapes that were sent back to Moscow. In 1956 some of these recordings started to appear as LP releases on Melodiya, the Soviet State record label. Klaus Lang, music editor at Sender Freies Berlin (SFB), had talks with the Moscow Radio department about the missing tapes and subsequently some copies of the Furtwängler recordings were returned, a number with reverberation added. Deutsche Grammophon issued some of these recordings on 10 CDs. In 1990, following the fall of Communism and German unification, SFB requested the repatriation of the original tapes. As a gesture of goodwill, a considerable number of the RRG tapes were returned up to 1991 but some were absent; this is still the current position.

This collection The Radio Recordings 1939–1945 is intended to allow the listener to experience the Berliner Philharmoniker in collaboration with Wilhelm Furtwängler, the conductor the players revered so much. Owing to the period these were produced they are sometimes described as the “war recordings” and are greatly prized, being regarded as the peak of Furtwängler’s conducting career. In addition, these historical performances were recorded with the added pressure and threat of working in Nazi Germany with great emphasis placed on music performance from the Third Reich leadership. Not surprisingly, the majority of the recordings focus on Austro/German repertoire of the 19th century, with symphonies and solo concertos by Beethoven, Schubert, Weber, Schumann, Wagner, Brahms, Bruckner and Richard Strauss plus some Handel, Gluck and Mozart. Sibelius and Ravel are also represented, as are a few of then-contemporary composers, Heinz Schumann, Pepping and a work from Furtwängler himself. There is some duplication, notably Mozart’s Symphony No. 39 and Beethoven’s Symphonies no’s. 4 and 5. Given the difficulties of the time the incomplete concerts aren’t too much of a problem; however, a couple of the works are incomplete. When the old Philharmonie was destroyed by bombing on 30th January 1944 the orchestra moved around a number of other Berlin buildings suitable for holding concerts and included here are recordings from Beethoven-Saal, Staatsoper Unter den Linden and Admiralspalast, also Haus des Rundfunks and a workers concert at AEG turbine factory.

The majority of the Furtwängler recordings on this edition were produced under sound engineer Dr. Friedrich Schnapp who in October 1939 succeeded Kurt Rasch. Schnapp went on to supervise Furtwängler’s radio broadcasts until the end of the war. Commencing in the 1940/41 season the concerts were no longer transmitted live but recorded earlier, for Sunday radio broadcast. A procedure sometimes followed was to choose the best of the three concerts in the series and also in rehearsal which were chosen for broadcast. Some of the original shellac discs and tapes were probably lost in a fire whilst in storage by the RRG and this is probably the reason why some of the concerts presented here are incomplete. Usually, from the original raw concert recordings, a new tape was made and edited then copied onto transmission tapes which were then used for broadcast. For this edition sound engineer Nikolaus Löwe remastered the original RRG tapes scored at RRB which hadn’t been worked on since 1991. Using a retrofitted Telefunken M19 tape machine Löwe digitized them in high resolution at 24bit/96kHz. A small number of the tapes seem to have lessened in quality since 1991 but the sound engineers have stated that “the vast majority showed a distinct improvement in the direct digital copy”.

Tracklist:

Disc 1 #01. Wilhelm Furtwängler – Symphonic Concerto: 1. Schwer
Disc 1 #02. Wilhelm Furtwängler – Symphonic Concerto: 2. Adagio solenne
Disc 1 #03. Wilhelm Furtwängler – Symphonic Concerto: 3. Allegro – Allegretto moderato

Disc 2 #01. G.F. Händel – Concerto grosso, Op. 6 No. 5: 1. (Maestoso) – Allegro
Disc 2 #02. G.F. Händel – Concerto grosso, Op. 6 No. 5: 2. Presto
Disc 2 #03. G.F. Händel – Concerto grosso, Op. 6 No. 5: 3. Largo
Disc 2 #04. G.F. Händel – Concerto grosso, Op. 6 No. 5: 4. Menuett
Disc 2 #05. G.F. Händel – Concerto grosso, Op. 6 No. 5: 5. Allegro
Disc 2 #06. Beethoven – Symphony No. 5: 1. Allegro con brio
Disc 2 #07. Beethoven – Symphony No. 5: 2. Andante con moto
Disc 2 #08. Beethoven – Symphony No. 5: 3. Allegro –
Disc 2 #09. Beethoven – Symphony No. 5: 4. Allegro – Presto
Disc 2 #10. Richard Strauss – Verführung op. 33 no. 1
Disc 2 #11. Richard Strauss – Waldseligkeit op. 49 no. 1
Disc 2 #12. Richard Strauss – Liebeshymnus op. 32 no. 3
Disc 2 #13. Richard Strauss – Winterliebe op. 48 no. 5
Disc 2 #14. Richard Strauss – Don Juan

Disc 3 #01. Richard Wagner – Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: Prelude
Disc 3 #02. Richard Wagner – Piano Concerto: 1. Allegro affetuoso
Disc 3 #03. Richard Wagner – Piano Concerto: 2. Intermezzo. Andantino grazioso –
Disc 3 #04. Richard Wagner – Piano Concerto: 3. Allegro vivace
Disc 3 #05. Beethoven – Symphony No. 7: 1. Poco sostenuto – Vivace
Disc 3 #06. Beethoven – Symphony No. 7: 2. Allegretto
Disc 3 #07. Beethoven – Symphony No. 7: 3. Presto – Trio I und II. Assai meno presto
Disc 3 #08. Beethoven – Symphony No. 7: 4. Allegro con brio

Disc 4 #01. Beethoven – Symphony No. 9: 1. Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso
Disc 4 #02. Beethoven – Symphony No. 9: 2. Molto vivace
Disc 4 #03. Beethoven – Symphony No. 9: 3. Adagio molto e cantabile
Disc 4 #04. Beethoven – Symphony No. 9: 4. Presto

Disc 5 #01. Christoph Willibald Gluck – Alceste
Disc 5 #02. Robert Schumann – Cello Concerto: 1. Nicht zu schnell –
Disc 5 #03. Robert Schumann – Cello Concerto: 2. Langsam – Etwas lebhafter – Schneller
Disc 5 #04. Robert Schumann – Cello Concerto: 3. Sehr lebhaft – Schneller

Disc 6 #01. Anton Bruckner – Symphony No. 5: 1. Introduction. Adagio – Allegro
Disc 6 #02. Anton Bruckner – Symphony No. 5: 2. Adagio. Sehr langsam
Disc 6 #03. Anton Bruckner – Symphony No. 5: 3. Scherzo. Molto vivace (Schnell) – Trio. Im gleichen Tempo
Disc 6 #04. Anton Bruckner – Symphony No. 5: 4. Finale. Adagio – Allegro moderato

Disc 7 #01. Johannes Brahms – Piano Concerto No. 2: 1. Allegro non troppo
Disc 7 #02. Johannes Brahms – Piano Concerto No. 2: 2. Allegro appassionato
Disc 7 #03. Johannes Brahms – Piano Concerto No. 2: 3. Andante
Disc 7 #04. Johannes Brahms – Piano Concerto No. 2: 4. Allegretto grazioso
Disc 7 #05. Richard Wagner – Tristan und Isolde: Prelude to Act 1 and Liebestod

Disc 8 #01. Heinz Schubert – Hymnic Concerto: 1. Introitus
Disc 8 #02. Heinz Schubert – Hymnic Concerto: 2. Toccata (mit Inventionen)
Disc 8 #03. Heinz Schubert – Hymnic Concerto: 3. Passacaglia (Sanctus)
Disc 8 #04. Heinz Schubert – Hymnic Concerto: 4. Finale (Te deum)

Disc 9 #01. Franz Schubert – Symphony No. 8 “Die Große”: 1. Andante – Allegro ma non troppo
Disc 9 #02. Franz Schubert – Symphony No. 8 “Die Große”: 2. Andante con moto
Disc 9 #03. Franz Schubert – Symphony No. 8 “Die Große”: 3. Scherzo. Allegro vivace – Trio
Disc 9 #04. Franz Schubert – Symphony No. 8 “Die Große”: 4. Finale. Allegro vivace
Disc 9 #05. W.A. Mozart – Symphony No. 39: 1. Adagio – Allegro
Disc 9 #06. W.A. Mozart – Symphony No. 39: 2. Andante con moto
Disc 9 #07. W.A. Mozart – Symphony No. 39: 3. Menuetto. Allegretto – Trio
Disc 9 #08. W.A. Mozart – Symphony No. 39: 4. Finale. Allegro

Disc 10 #01. Jean Sibelius – En Saga
Disc 10 #02. Jean Sibelius – Violin Concerto: 1. Allegro moderato
Disc 10 #03. Jean Sibelius – Violin Concerto: 2. Adagio di molto
Disc 10 #04. Jean Sibelius – Violin Concerto: 3. Allegro ma non tanto

Disc 11 #01. Beethoven – Symphonie No. 4: 1. Adagio – Allegro vivace (without audience)
Disc 11 #02. Beethoven – Symphonie No. 4: 2. Adagio (without audience)
Disc 11 #03. Beethoven – Symphonie No. 4: 3. Allegro vivace (without audience)
Disc 11 #04. Beethoven – Symphonie No. 4: 4. Allegro ma non troppo (without audience)
Disc 11 #05. Beethoven – Symphonie No. 4: 1. Adagio – Allegro vivace (with audience)
Disc 11 #06. Beethoven – Symphonie No. 4: 2. Adagio (with audience)
Disc 11 #07. Beethoven – Symphonie No. 4: 3. Allegro vivace (with audience)
Disc 11 #08. Beethoven – Symphonie No. 4: 4. Allegro ma non troppo (with audience)

Disc 12 #01. Beethoven – Coriolan: Overture
Disc 12 #02. Beethoven – Symphony No. 5: 1. Allegro con brio
Disc 12 #03. Beethoven – Symphony No. 5: 2. Andante con moto
Disc 12 #04. Beethoven – Symphony No. 5: 3. Allegro –
Disc 12 #05. Beethoven – Symphony No. 5: 4. Allegro – Presto

Disc 13 #01. Ernst Pepping – Symphony No. 2: 1. Molto sostenuto
Disc 13 #02. Ernst Pepping – Symphony No. 2: 2. Tranquillo
Disc 13 #03. Ernst Pepping – Symphony No. 2: 3. Allegro spirituoso
Disc 13 #04. Ernst Pepping – Symphony No. 2: 4. Maestoso
Disc 13 #05. Beethoven – Piano Concerto No. 4: 1. Allegro moderato
Disc 13 #06. Beethoven – Piano Concerto No. 4: 2. Andante con moto
Disc 13 #07. Beethoven – Piano Concerto No. 4: 3. Rondo. Vivace – Presto

Disc 14 #01. Anton Bruckner – Symphony No. 6: 2. Adagio. Sehr feierlich
Disc 14 #02. Anton Bruckner – Symphony No. 6: 3. Scherzo. Nicht schnell – Trio. Langsam
Disc 14 #03. Anton Bruckner – Symphony No. 6: 4. Finale. Bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell
Disc 14 #04. Anton Bruckner – Cello Concerto: 2. Langsam – Etwas lebhafter – Schneller (Fragment)
Disc 14 #05. Anton Bruckner – Cello Concerto: 3. Sehr lebhaft – Schneller
Disc 14 #06. Richard Strauss – Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche

Disc 15 #01. Johannes Brahms – Variations on a Theme by Haydn: Thema. Chorale St. Antoni. Andante
Disc 15 #02. Johannes Brahms – Variations on a Theme by Haydn: Variation I. Poco più animato
Disc 15 #03. Johannes Brahms – Variations on a Theme by Haydn: Variation II. Più vivace
Disc 15 #04. Johannes Brahms – Variations on a Theme by Haydn: Variation III. Con moto
Disc 15 #05. Johannes Brahms – Variations on a Theme by Haydn: Variation IV. Andante con moto
Disc 15 #06. Johannes Brahms – Variations on a Theme by Haydn: Variation V. Vivace
Disc 15 #07. Johannes Brahms – Variations on a Theme by Haydn: Variation VI. Vivace
Disc 15 #08. Johannes Brahms – Variations on a Theme by Haydn: Variation VII. Grazioso
Disc 15 #09. Johannes Brahms – Variations on a Theme by Haydn: Variation VIII. Presto non troppo
Disc 15 #10. Johannes Brahms – Variations on a Theme by Haydn: Finale. Andante
Disc 15 #11. Johannes Brahms – Piano Concerto No. 2: 1. Allegro non troppo
Disc 15 #12. Johannes Brahms – Piano Concerto No. 2: 2. Allegro appassionato
Disc 15 #13. Johannes Brahms – Piano Concerto No. 2: 3. Andante
Disc 15 #14. Johannes Brahms – Piano Concerto No. 2: 4. Allegretto grazioso

Disc 16 #01. Johannes Brahms – Symphony No. 4: 1. Allegro non troppo
Disc 16 #02. Johannes Brahms – Symphony No. 4: 2. Andante moderato
Disc 16 #03. Johannes Brahms – Symphony No. 4: 3. Allegro giocoso – Poco meno presto – Tempo I
Disc 16 #04. Johannes Brahms – Symphony No. 4: 4. Allegro energico e passionato – Più allegro

Disc 17 #01. Beethoven – Violin Concerto: 1. Allegro ma non troppo
Disc 17 #02. Beethoven – Violin Concerto: 2. Larghetto
Disc 17 #03. Beethoven – Violin Concerto: 3. Rondo (Allegro)

Disc 18 #01. Richard Strauss – Symphonia domestica: Allegro
Disc 18 #02. Richard Strauss – Symphonia domestica: Scherzo
Disc 18 #03. Richard Strauss – Symphonia domestica: Adagio
Disc 18 #04. Richard Strauss – Symphonia domestica: Finale

Disc 19 #01. G.F. Händel – Concerto grosso, Op. 6 No. 10: 1. Overture
Disc 19 #02. G.F. Händel – Concerto grosso, Op. 6 No. 10: 2. Allegro
Disc 19 #03. G.F. Händel – Concerto grosso, Op. 6 No. 10: 3. Air (lento)
Disc 19 #04. G.F. Händel – Concerto grosso, Op. 6 No. 10: 5. Allegro
Disc 19 #05. G.F. Händel – Concerto grosso, Op. 6 No. 10: 6. Allegro moderato
Disc 19 #06. W.A. Mozart – Symphony No. 39: 1. Adagio – Allegro
Disc 19 #07. W.A. Mozart – Symphony No. 39: 2. Andante con moto
Disc 19 #08. W.A. Mozart – Symphony No. 39: 3. Menuetto
Disc 19 #09. W.A. Mozart – Symphony No. 39: 4. Allegro

Disc 20 #01. Carl Maria von Weber – Der Freischütz: Overture
Disc 20 #02. Maurice Ravel – Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 1: 2. Interlude
Disc 20 #03. Maurice Ravel – Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 1: 3. Danse guerrère
Disc 20 #04. Maurice Ravel – Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2: 1. Lever du jour
Disc 20 #05. Maurice Ravel – Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2: 2. Pantomime
Disc 20 #06. Maurice Ravel – Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2: 3. Danse générale
Disc 20 #07. Beethoven – Symphony No. 6: 1. Allegro ma non troppo
Disc 20 #08. Beethoven – Symphony No. 6: 2. Andante molto mosso
Disc 20 #09. Beethoven – Symphony No. 6: 3. Allegro
Disc 20 #10. Beethoven – Symphony No. 6: 4. Allegro
Disc 20 #11. Beethoven – Symphony No. 6: 5. Allegretto

Disc 21 #01. Anton Bruckner – Symphony No. 9: Feierlich – Misterioso
Disc 21 #02. Anton Bruckner – Symphony No. 9: Scherzo. Bewegt, lebhaft-Trio: Schnell
Disc 21 #03. Anton Bruckner – Symphony No. 9: Adagio – Langsam feierlich

Disc 22 #01. Franz Schubert – Symphony No. 7 “Unvollendete”: 1. Allegro moderato
Disc 22 #02. Franz Schubert – Symphony No. 7 “Unvollendete”: 2. Andante con moto
Disc 22 #03. Johannes Brahms – Symphony No. 1: 4. Adagio – Più Andante – Allegro non troppo, ma con brio
Disc 22 #04. Bonus Track – Interview with Sound Engineer Friedrich Schnapp

Performers:

Conductor – Wilhelm Furtwängler
Orchestra – Berliner Philharmoniker
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Disc 1: Edwin Fischer – piano
Disc 2 Peter Anders – tenor vocals on tracks “10-13”
Disc 3: Walter Gieseking – piano on “2-4”
Disc 5: Tibor De Machula – cello on “2-4”
Disc 4: Elisabeth Höngen – alto vocals, Rudolf Watzke – bass vocals, Tilla Briem – soprano vocals, Peter Anders – tenor vocals, Bruno Kittelscher Chor
Disc 7: Edwin Fischer – piano on “1-4”
Disc 8: Fritz Heitmann – organ, Erna Berger – soprano vocals, Walther Ludwig – tenor vocals
Disc 13: Conrad Hansen – piano on “5-7”
Disc 14: Pierre Fournier – cello on “4-5”
Disc 15: Adrian Aeschbacher – piano on “11-14”
Disc 17: Erich Röhn – violin on “1-3”

Recordings date:

Disc 1 – 19 January 1939 Alte Philharmonie, Berlin
Disc 2 – 13 September 1939 Haus des Rundfunks, Berlin; 15, 16, 17 February 1942 Alte Philharmonie, Berlin (Stauss)
Disc 3 – 26 February 1942 AEG-Fabrik, Berlin (Wagner); 1, 2, 3, March 1942 Alte Philharmonie, Berlin (Schumann, Beethoven)
Disc 4 – 22, 23, 24 March 1942 Alte Philharmonie, Berlin
Disc 5 – 25, 26, 27 October 1942 Alte Philharmonie, Berlin
Disc 6 – 25-28 Oct 1942
Disc 7 – 8, 9 November 1942 Alte Philharmonie, Berlin
Disc 8 – 6, 7, 8 December 1942 Alte Philharmonie, Berlin
Disc 9 – 6, 7, 8 December 1942 Alte Philharmonie, Berlin (Schubert); 1942 or 1943 Haus des Rundfunks, Berlin (Mozart)
Disc 10 – 7, 8, 9, 10 February 1943 Alte Philharmonie, Berlin
Disc 11 – 28, 29, 30 June 1943 Alte Philharmonie, Berlin
Disc 12 – 27-30 June 1943 Alte Philharmonie, Berlin
Disc 13 – 28, 29, 30 June 1943 Alte Philharmonie, Berlin
Disc 14 – 13, 14, 15, 16 November 1943 Alte Philharmonie, Berlin
Disc 15 – 12, 13, 14, 15 December 1943 Alte Philharmonie, Berlin
Disc 16 – 12-15 December 1943 Alte Philharmonie, Berlin
Disc 17 – 9, 10, 11, 12 January 1944 Alte Philharmonie, Berlin
DIsc 18 – 12 January 1944 Alte Philharmonie, Berlin
Disc 19 – 7, 8 February 1944 Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Berlin
Disc 20 – 20, 21 March 1944 Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Berlin
Disc 21 – 3 – 7 October 1944 Beethovensaal, Alte Philharmonie, Berlin
Disc 22 – 12 December 1944 Admiralspalast, Berlin (Schubert); 22, 23 January 1945 Admiralspalast, Berlin (Brahms)