Concert of 7 January 1938, Hamburg

It was a time when Furtwängler conducted Bruckner's 8th together with another work, namely Beethoven's 1st. Let's remember the concert where Furtwängler asked Vladimir Horowitz to appear in the second half of the concert, and proposed the following program: Bruckner's Eighth Symphony – intermission – Brahms' Concerto No. 2… And Furtwängler also performed a similar program for concerts following the Hamburg concert on January 8, 9 and 10 in Berlin: the Eight was followed, after the intermission, by Beethoven's Emperor with Backhaus! One cannot say that the public was robbed!

Which version did he conduct on these occasions? Probably the Haslinger edition. It was not until July 5, 1939, on the occasion of a Bruckner festival in Vienna, that Furtwängler premiered the Haas version.