We have recently expanded our catalogue of streaming files, notably by adding the 33 rpm records of our friends at the Wilhelm Furtwängler Gesellschaft in Berlin.

– Beethoven : Concerto for violin (Menuhin/BPO/30 Sept. 1947)
– Mendelssohn : Ein Sommernachtstraum Overture (BPO/30 Sept. 1947
– Beethoven : Coriolan Overture (BPO/1943)
– Schubert : Symphony No. 9 (BPO 1942)
– Ravel : Daphnis et Chloé (2nd suite/BPO/1944)

Ute Neumerkel, who has produced several fascinating videos about Furtwängler (on YouTube), has recorded a work by our favourite musician herself..

This is a waltz for piano, catalogue number WF16, composed by the eight-year-old musician. It’s cute, pleasant, rather well written… but hardly a harbinger of the future composer of the Klavierquintett or the Symphonic Concerto.

To remind us that Furtwängler was also eight years old once…

Click on the young pianist below.

Young Wilhelm at the piano (c. 1895)

Available in the online shop

The album SWF D20 Furtwängler in Paris, is now available, featuring high-definition recordings of the entire concert performed on 4 May 1954, as preserved by the INA, including announcements and applause.

An exceptional concert.
— A particularly lively overture to Euryanthe, a welcome alternative to the official recording with the VPO.
— Brahms’s Haydn Variations, with exemplary staging that clearly identifies the mood of each variation.
— A lyrical Unfinished by Schubert, with soloists (flute, oboe, horn, etc.) seldom featured so prominently.
— A monumental, grandiose Beethoven’s Fifth, but one that nonetheless features some purely poetic moments.

The applause that followed this performance seemed to go on forever…

In addition to this concert: the Entretiens sur des entretiens (“Interviews about interviews”). These are not the only interviews with Furtwängler, but rarely has he explored certain topics in such depth, with the excellent assistance of Fred Goldbeck. We’re not talking about vague compliments here; what he says about interpretation or contemporary music prompts reflection. All of these interviews are translated into English in the digital booklet.

In comparison with other live recordings of the time, the RTF recording is truly astonishing. To find out more, listen to the podcast dedicated to this product.

A few words about the Entretiens sur des entretiens included in the upcoming SWF D20. We previously included them on the 1993 CD, then on the SACD. Here they are again, with two notable differences. The second interview is followed by a large excerpt from the first movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, while the third is preceded by a foreword, , both of which are absent from previous publications, and — more curiously — the original tapes held by the Institut national de l’audiovisuel, as referenced therein.

We summarise the situation in this short study (pdf file, French version and English version).