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.