Year: 2024
News
Just over a month ago, Philippe Jacquard passed away.
In 1988, he wrote a very comprehensive study, Furtwängler in Leipzig, of the conductor’s activities as head of the Gewandhaus from 1922 to 1928. Today, we’re reissuing it in line with our new graphic charter. For financial reasons, it is only available in French.
The original ‘paper’ study was previously published on the old SWF website, unfortunately without certain appendices and iconography. For this reissue, we had to start from this base, adding new illustrations. As for the list of concerts with the Gewandhaus, it seemed unnecessary to rewrite it, since these concerts are included in the extensive list accessible on this site.
We previously announced it. Our new SWF D17 product is now available on the shop at a price of €15.
Here’s a reminder of its content:
– Swedish and Austrian national anthems
– Haydn: Symphony No 94
– Sibelius: En Saga
– R. Strauss: Don Juan
– Beethoven : Symphony No 5
The radio announcements are also fully translated into English and French in the booklets. The cover photo was taken during the dress rehearsal (Don Juan).
This is a great moment in music, each work being performed to a rare perfection, but also with a very active reading. Furtwängler was in top form. And while many recordings of the Fifth do exist, or of Don Juan, there is only one other version of En Saga and Haydn’s symphony.
The files — in high definition — are sourced from the Swedish Radio, and sound particularly good, with more depth and definition than on our old compact disc.
The podcast, available on this site, presents the product with sound excerpts.
Everything you need for a merry Christmas!
A conference by Chris Walton at the Cercle Wagner.
On Sunday 8 December, in Paris, the Cercle National Richard Wagner hosted a conference by Chris Walton, a specialist in the Germanic repertoire and a great connoisseur of Furtwängler’s art.
The title sums up the speaker’s point. Guilhem Chameyrat and our President, Félix Matus-Echaiz, attended the event. The attached pdf document — written by Guilhem Chameyrat — is a report of the conference.
Guilhem Chameyrat, Chris Walton and Félix Matus-Echaiz
The programme we are releasing as a facsimilé contrasts with the usual publications: it accompanies a chamber music session rather than an orchestral concert.
Furtwängler — playing the piano — and violinist Georg Kulenkampff perform Furtwängler’s Second Sonata in D major, on 5 December (and not 8 as indicated in the booklet). But not just anywhere.
Not only are they performing in the great hall of the Musikverein — over 1700 seats! — but, as the promotional sidebar states, the concert is ‘Ausverkauft’! It is sold out, and the ticket desk should be closed on the evening…
The same performers premiered the work in February of the same year — in Bielefeld — ‘toured’ it then, and performed it again in December, notably in Munich and Prague.
So many chamber musicians would be envious!
SWF D17 : Wiener Philharmoniker, Stockholm, 25 September 1950
Rarely can we present an entire concert to our members.
A few years ago, we produced a compact disc — our last CD! — featuring the first part of the concert performed by the Wiener Philharmoniker in Stockholm on 25 September 1950. However, we only had second-hand material.
On 20 December, you will be able to listen to the entire concert in high definition, just as if you were listening to the radio broadcast. You will even enjoy the announcer’s announcements and the opening national anthems!
To do this, we had the chance to work with the best source, the Swedish Radio, which provided us with the sound files in high definition. Christophe Hénault, our regular sound engineer, had to correct a few things. Dynamics are quite exceptional, and the sound palette is very rich. However, it should not be forgotten that the footage was recorded on tape, which was then transferred to disc for archiving. The background noise is affected by this, but more drastic processing would have resulted in a loss of definition.
As for the content: Haydn Symphony No. 94, a wonderful alternative to the HMV disc, Sibelius’ En Saga, with its subtle hues, a Don Juan by Strauss, as crepuscular as Lenau’s character, and a Beethoven Fifth of the best days!
The booklet includes Marc Vignal’s text, written for the 2017 CD, as well as transcriptions of the radio announcements.
Here’s an extract from En Saga (in mp3) to whet your appetite.
The program page below deserves a ‘wanted’ poster.
It features Furtwängler conducting the Nuremberg ‘Philharmonischer Verein’ orchestra for a concert on April 7, 1922.
– This concert is not listed among all known performances by Furtwängler.;
– It would be his only appearance as conductor of this orchestra;
– This would have been the only time he conducted the 3rd Symphony (‘Västkustbilder’) by Swedish composer Kurt Atterberg.
It is true that Furtwängler was ‘available’ at this precise period (April 1 in Vienna, April 16 in Rome), during which he was appointed in Berlin and Leipzig as Nikisch’s successor. But there is no trace of this concert in his letters, nor in the newspapers of the time.
Disturbing are the notes written with blue ink: ‘Vertreter’ — ‘Schuricht’ — ‘Wiesbaden’.
Could he have replaced Carl Schuricht? Or vice versa? But nothing about that date is mentioned in his eminent colleague’s concert schedule either. That said, it is certain that Schuricht conducted Atterberg’s symphony in his Wiesbaden stronghold in late 1921/early 1922…
It should be noted that the two local orchestras — of the Theater and of the Philharmonic Association —, that year merged to become the Nuremberg Philharmonic Orchestra. No doubt this is the origin of the ‘vereinigten Orchester’, reunited orchestra, which is mentioned on the document.
The hunt is on…
We have just been informed of the sudden death of Philippe Jacquard on 16 November at the age of 76.
Trained as an engineer with expertise in patent registration, he soon became interested in Furtwängler and joined the SWF. For a long time he acted as General Secretary, bringing his rigour to the management of a growing community of members.
He wrote numerous articles for the association — Furtwängler à Francfort, Les Sortilèges de Brangaene, Les Acoustiques du Titania-Palast, Furtwängler et l’enregistrement, and was involved in drafting and writing circulars, as well as sending them out. It’s fair to say that for several years, the SWF relied heavily on his efforts as General Secretary.
From June 1991, he succeeded Serge Dubois as President of the SWF, a position he held for two years.
With his in-depth knowledge of recording techniques, he has long enlightened SWF members with his expertise in sound quality.
We would like to express our deepest sympathy to his family and friends.
His funeral will be held on 28 November at 10.30am in the Notre-Dame church in Vincennes.
The partnership between the Wilhelm Furtwängler Gesellschaft (Berlin), our sister company, and the publisher musicas.de (Hamburg) has resulted in an outstanding product.
A superb hardback box features three blu-ray DVDs and a book.
The three blu-ray DVDs:
– No. 1 (75′): existing films of Furtwängler’s rehearsals and concerts;
– No. 2 (118′): memories and interviews with Claudio Abbado, Yehudi Menuhin, Hans Bastiaan, Carlo Maria Giulini…
– No. 3 (80′) features the documentary made by Florian Furtwängler (the conductor’s nephew) in 1968.
The DVDs have English and Japanese subtitles.
The lavishly presented, bilingual (German and English) book that accompanies the DVDs is written by our friend Helge Grünewald, President of the WFG. It is rich in information, and includes rare iconography.
This beautiful item, available at the end of November, has a retail price of €100. However, it is being sold to SWF members at the special price of €60.00 + shipping. This promotional offer will expire on 31 December 2024.
To benefit from this attractive offer, simply complete the order form — also available in the online shop —, accessible only to SWF members. By submitting it, an email will be sent directly to the publisher. You will later receive notification from the publisher of the total amount to be paid before shipment.
INFORMATION: Please note that the minutes of the GM held on 9 November are available on the following page Invitations and reports of the Association.
Almost two years ago, we reissued the study Furtwängler in Italy. To illustrate and supplement this document, here is a facsimile programme of the Berlin Philharmonic’s concert at the Teatro Adriano in Rome on January 22, 1941. The January 24 concert will be released in a few weeks’ time.
A valuable archive, thanks to the author of the study, Angelo Scottini.
The orchestra, standing, plays the national anthems. Rome, January 22, 1941
Our new product, described in our October 17th news, is now available in our shop.
Our efforts — those of Christophe Hénault! — focused on the sound rendering, and in particular the processing of dynamics, from the archive provided by the Swedish Radio.
This publication is also an opportunity to highlight our extensive catalog of downloadable products. And this publication comes on the day before our GM: we look forward to seeing you there!
As we wrote some time ago: if the traditional conference has become a thing of the past, an alternative means of expression is now available.
Guilhem Chameyrat, SWF member and member of the association’s board, has published a long and well-documented podcast on Furtwängler and Brahms, considering that such a symbiosis between conductor and composer has never been more striking than this one.
This is a deeply personal point of view, but he defends it brilliantly. The podcast is in French, with English and German subtitles. Here is the link:
https://youtu.be/RxxMptircM0?si=u_Eg9GlTEs3PqONG
A few years ago, the SWF issued a study, Furtwängler in Lübeck (1911-1915), based notably on period letters from Lilli Dieckmann.
Today, we invite you to watch a filmed documentary. It has the same title. It was directed by Ute Neumerkel. We already know her: ten years ago, she interviewed Friederike Kunz, daughter of Wilhelm Furtwängler.
This exciting new documentary is narrated in German, but with English subtitles. Richly documented (with unpublished iconography) and illustrated with sound excerpts borrowed from the conductor’s discography, it tells the story of a journey — that of the young conductor in the Hanseatic city — through the reading of period correspondence and rare documents.
This documentary can be enjoyed by everyone. Go on, you won’t regret it!
