Rest assured, the SWF is not abandoning the complete Polydor edition, and Volume 3 will indeed be published in the autumn.

However, we thought it would be interesting to include a completely different product in the middle of this series, one that will appeal to those put off by ‘wax discs’. On 12 June, the SWF D26 album will be released, featuring the concert given by the Berliner Philharmoniker in Wiesbaden on 10 June 1949, recorded by Hessischer Rundfunk. Its price will be €15. As usual, in addition to the high-resolution files, you will also find files in ‘CD format’

Alongside Mozart’s 40th Symphony — we don’t have that many! — a monumental 4th Symphony by Brahms, with phrasing that takes your breath away, but above all a set of pieces that were dear to Furtwängler’s heart: the three preludes from Pfitzner’s Palestrina. Included in the programme to pay tribute to the composer who had passed away shortly before, they were by no means a stopgap. Furtwängler had a sincere admiration for this opera, which he had planned to conduct in Salzburg in 1955, and he frequently conducted the preludes to each of the three acts, both in Berlin and on tour. Consequently, there is nothing superficial about this interpretation, which delves deep into the essence of Pfitzner’s mysticism.

This reissue required extensive restoration work, which, as usual, was entrusted to Christophe Hénault. In particular, it was necessary to balance the levels and restore the dynamics of the 2nd Prelude, which had been compressed.

The commentaries were as entrusted to Raphaël Fournier, a great connoisseur of Pfitzner. Very soon, a video podcast will give him the opportunity to discuss the complex, yet ultimately endearing, figure of this composer.

In the meantime, here is an excerpt (mp3) from the first prelude.

For many years admirers of Furtwängler have wondered when the recording of Symphony No. 39 in E-flat major, released by DGG with the vague two-year date of 1942-1943, was really made.

We know that the conductor left us two recordings of this work, this one and a live recording made during the concerts of 7 and 8 February 1944: two different interpretations, though made within a short time of each other and with the same orchestra.

“1942-1943” means little more than these 730 days, and doesn’t get us very far.

Then, a team of SWF members set about looking into the matter. The study we are presenting to you, whilst not providing a definitive answer, examines all the possibilities. And you are welcome to share your views…

Furtwängler’s talent as a pianist is well known. Written accounts — far more so than the few recordings that exist — bear witness to this. He began his career as a répétiteur at the opera, then went on to accompany singers in recitals, and performed as a chamber musician in Lübeck and Mannheim. But he also performed as a soloist in his own orchestral concerts. As such he conducted from the keyboard numerous performances of Bach’s 5th Brandenburg Concerto, the Concerto for Three Keyboards by the same composer, and even Beethoven’s Triple Concerto.

Like Bruno Walter, he also made a name for himself with Mozart. Take, for example, the programme from 4 May 1936: the Berlin Philharmonic and their conductor, whilst on tour, stopped off in Stuttgart. And the audience crowded in the Liederhalle would hear Furtwängler’s performance of Mozart’s Concerto in A major (No. 23).

We would have liked to have heard a recording. We’ll have to make do with this facsimile.