The Early Recordings, 1926 - 1937

Wilhelm Furtwangler (Conductor), Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
• Conductor: Wilhelm Furtwangler
• Audio CD (January 25, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Koch International Classics
• ASIN: B000001SE9
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #699,279 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Der Freischütz, opera, J. 277 (Op. 77): Overture & Entr'acte

2. Der Freischütz, opera, J. 277 (Op. 77): Entr'acte

3. Invitation to the Dance (Aufforderung zum Tanze), for orchestra (orchestrated by Berlioz)

4. A Midsummer Night's Dream, overture, Op. 21

5. The Hebrides, overture for orchestra in B minor ('Fingal's Cave'), Op. 26

6. Marche de Rákóczy (Rákóczy March), for orchestra (Le damnation de Faust), H. 109

Disc: 2

1. Lohengrin, opera, WWV 75: Prelude to Act 1

2. Tristan und Isolde, opera, WWV 90: Prelude & Liebestod

3. Die Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods), opera, WWV 86d: Funeral March

4. Hungarian Dances (21) for orchestra, WoO 1: No. 1 in G minor

5. Hungarian Dances (21) for orchestra, WoO 1: No. 3 in F major

6. Die Fledermaus (The Bat), overture to the operetta (RV 503-1)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From the review in the The Washington Post, May 14, 2007

By 

Record Collector (Mons, Belgium) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Early Recordings, 1926 - 1937 (Audio CD)

Wilhelm Furtwaengler was a poet of the baton, more interested in emotional communication than in the precise discipline favored today. He was likely to make each performance of a work sound different from the last, a quality hard to capture on records, which tend to go on doing the same things in the same way every time you play them. Still, the personality of the conductor comes through in some of his old recordings recently remastered on CD.

The Koch Legacy series has issued a thorough survey of Furtwangler's early recordings with the Berlin Philharmonic, from 1926 to 1937, in two volumes of two CDs each. The first (3-7059-2) has music of Bach (Brandenburg Concerto No. 3), Mozart ("Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" and overtures), Schubert ("Rosamunde"), Beethoven ("Egmont" Overture and Symphony No. 5) and Rossini ("Gazza Ladra" and "Barber of Seville" overtures). The second (3-7073-2) includes theatrical music of Weber, Mendelssohn, Berlioz, Wagner and Johann Strauss Jr., as well as a superb performance of "Till Eulenspiegel" by the other Strauss. There is a special interest in comparing his fine 1926 recording of the "Freischutz" Overture (in the first set) with the more evocative 1935 recording in the second set. These interpretations cannot be called better or worse than their abundant and excellent competition; they are one-of-a-kind and to be treasured for that reason.