The Furtwangler Record [Hardcover]

John Ardoin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1994

Furtw-ngler's recordings remain for many the standard by which all subsequent performances are judged. This study offers an overview of his career and his place in the mainstream of the German school of conducting, with commentaries on all his recorded performances.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Books continue to proliferate about the great German conductor, who died 40 years ago. This one by Dallas-based music critic Ardoin is perhaps the most useful of them, a deeply informed guide to the maestro's significant recordings together with Furtwangler's own thoughts on interpretation of many of the works Ardoin discusses. Ardoin is an unabashed admirer, who finds that "what was a circumscribed cult [of enthusiasts] in the first decade following his death has become a widespread phenomenon." He champions Furtwangler against Arturo Toscanini as the century's greatest conductor, joins those who find the maestro naive but not blameworthy in electing to stay in Nazi Germany, and feels that we will not look upon his like again. There is a wonderfully thorough discography (by John Hunt), which emphasizes the remarkable fact that almost every major recording Furtwangler made is now available on CD. An invaluable book for admirers and record collectors. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Widely regarded during his lifetime as the custodian of the German musical tradition, Wilhelm Furtw„ngler (1886-1954) is one of the greatest conductors of this century and one of the most controversial. His inward-looking, spiritually intense interpretations exert their spell through recordings to this day, yet his reputation has suffered from the stigma of his decision not to leave Nazi Germany and to continue his direction of the Berlin Philharmonic. Ardoin provides a useful overview of Furtw„ngler's career, but the backbone of his book is a study of the conductor's recorded legacy. Ardoin groups the recordings by musical period (baroque, classical, etc.), provides exhaustive information about Furtw„ngler's various recordings of each particular score, and uses excerpts from Furtw„ngler's diaries and correspondence to illuminate his interpretative approach to individual composers and scores especially well. Furtw„ngler's interpretations remain a basic gloss on the works of the German musical masters, and because they remain accessible in recordings, Ardoin's exhaustive study will be valuable in any library with patrons deeply interested in classical music. John Shreffler

Product Details

• Hardcover: 376 pages
• Publisher: Amadeus Press (1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0931340691
• ISBN-13: 978-0931340697
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,520,532 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Furtwangler discography, July 28, 2000

By 

Sergey Sh. (Moscow Russia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Furtwangler Record (Hardcover)

I think this book is useful primarily for classical CD collectors and Furtwangler's fans. It consists of a biography, recordings reviews and a discography. The biography describes Furtwangler's career using historical context. Recordings reviews are grouped by music eras and composers. Reviews cover all available recordings. You can read about performances of every opus, Furtwangler's thoughts from his books and letters concerning music of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Wagner and others. It is unique and often previously not published information. And at last you can read a comprehensive review of every recording. I found the reviews useful as it helps to decide whether to buy the recording or not. In Appendix you can find the discography by John Hunt. It covers all available CDs till 1992. LPs are mentioned only if there are no CDs for the item.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great reading material for anyone interested in Furtwangler, August 5, 2008

By 

dv_forever (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Furtwangler Record (Hardcover)

In this book, John Ardoin takes the reader on a journey through Furtwangler's recorded legacy. Instead of writing a biographical account of the conductor, he digs into his musical achievements and strings along biographical material here and there. The main focus is on the recordings and the chapters are listed by the various composers that Furtwangler specialized in.

The biggest focus is obviously on the Austo-German mainline of classical music. We get quite a lot dedicated to the recordings Furtwangler made of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Wagner, Brahms, Bruckner, R. Strauss. We also get shorter entries dedicated to such different composers as Weber, Berlioz, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Hindemith and others. The composers are discussed chronologically of course. This book is full of insights and comprehensive in it's overview as it goes through all known Furtwangler recordings and there are quite a few of them.

I've been listening to Furtwangler for years and this book is a great supplement to understanding Furtwangler's style and artistic thought process. If you own the Beethoven and Brahms symphony sets released by Music and Arts, there are excerpts from this Ardoin book printed into the liner notes of those CD sets. That will give you an idea about what kind of writing this book contains. Ardoin is an intuitive writer and he lets Furtwangler speak for himself many times, taken directly from his notes, letters and talks.

I wish I had a book like this dedicated to Herbert von Karajan! The Karajan books I've found on the market are akin to the standard biographical model. Give me a biography of the recordings Karajan made like with this Furtwangler book. That would make my day. Of course since Karajan recorded so much, a book exclusively about every single record he ever made would be like 2000 pages long!