Concert of 25 October 1942

Once again, these short leaflets, though not very thick, open up new horizons.

A few words about Tibor de Machula. Born in Hungary in 1912, he studied cello in Budapest before spending three years in the United States, notably at the Curtis Institute. Back in Europe after travelling all over the world, in October 1936 he was appointed solo cellist of the Berlin Philharmonic, alongside Arthur Troester, who had joined a year earlier. He performed there until June 1947, just in time for Furtwängler's return in May. He then left to take up the same position at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw conducted by Van Beinum and then Haitink. He retired in 1977 and died in 1982.

He was Furtwängler's soloist for Schumann's and Dvorak's Cello Concertos, and Brahms's Double Concerto.

Peter Wackernagel, who wrote the text about Schumann, left several writings about Furtwängler and the Berlin Philharmonic. On the other hand, one may be surprised by the lack of any analysis of Bruckner's 5th Symphony, the construction of which, especially the complex finale, would have deserved a few words. From the very start, Furtwängler adopted the ‘Urfassung’ drawn up by Robert Haas. As other conductors, Furtwängler demanded — a letter to Vienna attests — that the brass should be doubled. We know that some of them (Schuricht for example) developed a symbolism for this — the brass representing the apostles, spread out in a circle above the orchestra. The main reason for doing this was to preserve the players' lips and, after the rotation, to bring them together for the final chorale.

The photo of Furtwängler, smiling in a restaurant car, is from a series taken during the Orchestra's trip to Scandinavia in early 1942.

The back cover announced a Furtwängler concert with Brahms's 2nd Concerto performed by Wilhelm Backhaus as soloist. As we wrote in a circular, he was replaced at the very last moment (health problem?) by Edwin Fischer: this is the source of the recording that has gone down in history.