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.