We have the almost complete list of Furtwängler’s concerts. Yet we also have, through online documentation or through the acquisition of documents, some printed programmes. And there is sometimes a surprise, for example a last-minute programme change. This is the case with a concert in New York, where Furtwängler withdrew from a work… The reason? Read the attached pdf document and you will be astonished.

We announced it more than a month ago; today is the day we offer on our site, to be downloaded by our members, a monument in Furtwängler’s discography: Brahms’ German Requiem, as recorded by Swedish Radio on 19 November 1948.

At last restored to high definition, with an exceptional dynamic and a clarity of sound that enables all the details to be heard, here is a performance imbued with truly elegiac depth. The press reports, translations of which are reproduced in the booklet, insist on the serene wisdom that emerges from Furtwängler’s reading. To be sure, he does not back away from the spectacular character of certain passages (in the second and sixth movements notably), yet this immense funeral cantata takes on its veritable dimension in the ‘soft’ passages, such as the intermediate movements. And as for the last movement, it is a door open onto a beyond that becomes a reconciliation with death.

We emphasise the unique aspect of this production, not just because of the high definition but no less for the unparalleled editorial scope: the facsimile of the programme and a very copious and extensively documented booklet, for which we once more thank our Swedish friends.

The preparation of the release (19 October) by the SWF of the Stockholm German Requiem is also an opportunity to make a few points about the performances of this masterpiece under the baton of Furtwängler.

A few surprises discovered in the course our research:
— though he conducted the work a good number of times in Vienna, it was always with the Symphonic Orchestra (or its predecessor), never with the Philharmonic;
— he conducted it only a few times in Berlin, even though it was there that he had available to him one of his favourite choruses, that of Bruno Kittel;
— his position within the Brahms Gesellschaft enabled him to programme the Requiem three times at great Brahms festivals: Heidelberg in 1926, Jena in 1929 and that of the centenary, in Vienna in 1933;
— he never recorded the work for a disc, Walter Legge (EMI) preferring Karajan after the performances in Lucerne and Vienna in 1947. Happily, there are the radio recordings.

We offer you a small study (English version) consisting of the list of these concerts, a concise biography of all the soloists, and a more detailed portrayal of the Jena performance in 1929.

An association is unlike any other enterprise. It relies on volunteer cooperation, in particular with regard to deliveries. Consequently, and until 9 November, we cannot guarantee the postal delivery of our CDs. So, if you place an order, please be patient!

On the other hand, downloading is in no way handicapped by a lack of manpower. So make a note: 19 October for Brahms’ Requiem!

It has become ever more difficult to find a space in Paris suitable for our lectures — one of the SWF’s main activities since 1969 — the reason being the demands of the owners with regard to availability and price.

This is why we have still not been able to present to you the programme of the new season.

At the same time, and with the double objective of conforming to our time and offering such moments to all our members, we are studying the possibility of making some podcasts available to all our members, francophone or not.

We are going to produce a ‘pilot’ podcast that will be tested by our management team before general release. So, please be patient! Thank you.

So it is on 19 October that the Stockholm recording of the German Requiem will be available for downloading.

As a foretaste here are three extracts:

– Part of the conclusion of the first movement (from bar 144);

– The orchestral transition with its phenomenal crescendo (bar 42) in the second movement;

– An extract from the fourth movement (from bar 24).

Technical constraints have obliged us to offer you these extracts in CD quality. We leave you to imagine how it will all sound in high definition 24/96!

Drawing from the collection — that seems inexhaustible — of Kosuke Hiyama, the Japanese society, The Wilhelm Furtwängler Centre of Japan, has released a new CD.

It has the reference WFFC1801-HYM and offers:
– Brahms’ Second Symphony in the Decca recording of March 1948 with the London Philharmonic,
– four alternative, rejected takes of the same recording,
– Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture in the Polydor release of 1930 (BPO),
– the same work in the VPO recording of 1949 for EMI.

Our partners have avoided, this time, presenting the sides of the 78 discs separately and unedited; we therefore have the works in their continuity

We know that this Second Symphony of Brahms is little appreciated, despite its qualities. It is true that the recording sessions did not go especially well, Furtwängler intervening in the balance, not necessarily for the good… At least we have here an excellent recording that means we can make up our own minds.

Furtwängler was always at ease with the effervescent romanticism of Fingal’s Cave, to use the other name of Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture — one that is more evocative for those who have visited this impressive part of the Scottish coast. The transfers were most seriously effected.

We have ordered for you a certain number of copies.
This CD has a price of 12 €, and will be available from 30 September from our shop.

The publication of the facsimile of the programme for the concert in Berlin on 7 February 1943 (Sibelius and Brahms) serves to remind us that the concerts of that period in the capital of the Third Reich no longer presented many great soloists.

They were elsewhere: abroad in the case of those who had gone into exile, confined to their occupied countries (although some of these did make the journey…), or not daring to travel to a city where the flames of incendiary bombs burned more brightly than the stars of music…

In five weeks from now our new production will be available to download, after the Ninth of 1942 and the Eroica of 1952 which have just been posted online.

This new reference (SWF D03): Brahms’ German Requiem, performed in Stockholm in November 1948.

Connoisseurs know it already: we have only three documents of Furtwängler’s performance of this masterpiece. More than 20 years ago the SWF republished the Lucerne concert of 1947; a magnificent and moving reading, yet one that required listeners to have “ears of faith”, so precarious was the sound. Let us forget the recording, incomplete in any case, of Vienna 1951: none of the performers seems to be at their best. There remains the recording of the concert in Stockholm on 19 November 1948  — the third concert of the series. We have known of this for more than 40 years, or rather we thought we knew it in re-releases that ranged from the dreadful to the just about passable. It was essential that the SWF tackle the issue, yet only by showing itself to be exemplary so that at last you could appreciate the greatness of this performance at its true value.

  Konserthuset in 1948

In order to do this, we asked Swedish Radio for a high definition copy from its archive. This was then entrusted to the studio Art et Son — Christophe Hénault —, who, by going beyond his skilful work in reducing the background noise and appropriately equalising the tone-colours, gave the sound its full potential with, notably, a phenomenal and hitherto unexampled dynamic, and a transparency that brings out the choral sections. The German Requiem is above all a vocal work, and the choral sections carefully prepared by Johannes Norrby are a constant reminder of this, supported as they are by an attentive orchestra, with the contributions of two excellent soloists, albeit they are relatively little-known outside Sweden: Kerstin Lindberg-Torlind and Bernhard Sönnerstedt.

It is in this kind of re-release that high definition, 24/96, finds total justification, highlighting tiny details, yet also giving life to the musical texture. That said, the digital pack includes the same files in ‘CD format.

Two Swedish correspondents, Nils-Göran Olve, the son of an orchestral violinist who took part in these evenings, and Göran Söderwall, a member of the SWF, offered to prepare one of the most copious booklets we have ever presented. Not only have they drawn up a table of the relationship of Furtwängler with the Orchestra and the context of these evenings, but they have also translated for us all the dithyrambic press articles that appeared on the morrow of the concert!

We have added the biographies of the performers, the list of the orchestral musicians, the trilingual texts of the Requiem, and a facsimile of the programme. The booklet is offered in two versions, French and English, illustrated with some rare iconography.

In order to achieve this result, we have been able to count on the help of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus of Stockholm, who responded with great generosity  to our solicitations. Along with Swedish Radio and our two Swedish correspondents, may they here receive our most grateful thanks.

Once, and only once, Furtwängler had a go at stage direction. It was usually a job for Heinz Tietjen, stage director AND conductor, intendant of the national opera, and hihg priest in Bayreuth. It would become customary with the Karajan of the 1960s.

It happened in January 1943 in Vienna: Furtwängler conducted several performances of Tristan und Isolde, with Max Lorenz and Anny Konetzni. Already three years previously he had managed to get out of the reserve the beautiful scenery that Alfred Roller had designed for Mahler’s production in 1903. Yet from that to following in the footsteps of Wymetal or Tietjen… One thing is certain: when Tristan was revived towards the end of that same year, the name of Wymetal reappeared on the programme! To each his own trade.

In any case, the press at the time did not miss the show (click on the article to enlarge it).

Furtwängler always considered it a duty to serve the music of his time. There was Strauss and Pfitzner for the older generation, Hindemith and Bartok for the young. And then there were the others, all those on whom fortune did or did not smile. Who remembers Frommel, Hessenberg or even Braunfels? And so, in order to have at least an idea of what we are talking about, the SWF offers you a panorama of all these composers (some are missing, we know!) with a ‘photo line-up’, a quick presentation and the list of the performances by Furtwängler.

72 composers! Clic on the cover to find out about them.

We announced it in early July.

We are putting online, in our shop, today, the new digital product that bears the reference SWF D02. This is the Eroica given by the Berlin Philharmonic on 8 December 1952, with the Overture to Der Freischütz to open the concert. No doubt that this performance of the Symphony n° 3 is the most grandiose, with a somber character that also marks the Weber.

The difference with the CD released some two years ago and now out of stock? The sound is much more precisely outlined, thanks to the high definition (24/96). Details re-emerge. At a price of 8 €, even those who purchased the CD will be won over!

It is available in our shop