On Saturday 23 December, the SWF will be releasing an exceptional concert (for both download and streaming), the one given by Furtwängler conducting the Lucerne Festival Orchestra on 27 August 1947.
Broadcast by a Swiss radio station, fortunately relayed by Swedish Radio which had the bright idea of recording it, it features in this order:
– Beethoven : Piano Concerto No. 1 with Adrian Aeschbacher
– Beethoven : Leonore III Overture
– Brahms : Symphony No. 1
For this edition, we took the material directly from the source, the Swedish Radio, which supplied the digitised files in high definition. The restoration and mastering was handled by Christophe Hénault. The result is superior to anything previously available.
There is no need to underline the importance of this publication. If the Brahms Symphony matches the greatness of the Amsterdam (1950) and Hamburg (1951) recordings, we have here the only testimony of Furtwängler conducting the Beethoven Concerto, where his performance is astonishingly youthful, unexpectedly fresh and attentive to Adrian Aeschbacher.
As always, the release will be available in both high definition and CD quality, and as well as the booklet (in French and English), you'll also be able to download pdf files for printing a cover and the inlay card for a jewel box. It will be available at a price of €14.
Watch the presentation on our Youtube channel.
It's also our first new product to be available directly via streaming.
Here's a preview of the Concerto (mp3).