Customer Reviews

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 "Pathétique", Wagner: Tristan und Isolde (Prelude & Liebestod)

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The first thing one notices about these reissues from 1938 is the wonderful sound for the period. We can give some credit to the German engineers of the time, but much also to transfer wizard, Mark Obert-Thorn, who painstakingly transferred from near-pristine American, English and French 78s. There is some preserved surface noise but it is minimally distracting; meanwhile, the tonal range is very impressive. And of course these performances by the Berlin Philharmonic are superb. But it's Furtwängler's conducting that makes these performances worthwhile.

I have not always been the most avid fan of Furtwängler; I'm certainly not among that number who seem to think he could do no wrong. But in certain repertoire he was sensational, and in these two works that term applies. Both the Pathétique and the Wagner Prélude and Liebestod require sensitive flexibility of tempos and dynamics, and of course Furtwängler was renowned for his preternatural skill at that. Probably the only place that I get a little out of sorts with him in these two works is that place in the third movement of the Tchaikovsky leading up to the whirling scalar passages in the strings at measure 221 where Furtwängler speeds up hysterically and then rather too dramatically slows down for the almost ponderous final appearance of the march theme at m. 229. It made me a little seasick. But then we're in for one of the most moving Tchaik 6 final movements every recorded, and the Berlin strings give him a silken yet vibrant tone that perfectly matches the music's emotionality without becoming maudlin. And Furtwängler's third-movement excess is immediately forgiven. I cannot say enough about how wonderful this transfer makes the BPO strings sound. And, for that matter, the winds and brass are caught in extraordinary similitude. It's no wonder these performances have never been long out of the catalog in one incarnation or the other.

As for the Wagner, what can I say? Is there really any other conductor of Wagner who can match Furtwängler? Much as I love the (more or less) modern sound of the Solti and other 'Ring' recordings, I often go back to the 1937 Covent Garden 'Ring' excerpts with Flagstad and Melchior. In the Prélude to 'Tristan' Furtwängler's famous seemingly indecipherable and fluttery beat is translated somehow by the orchestra into time-stopping ecstasy; one simply wouldn't be aware, absent a score, that this is in plain old 6/8, but one is certainly aware of the emotionality of the score. The 'Liebestod' is similarly voluptuous. Furtwängler conducts this music like the composer he was, as if it was issuing spontaneously from him and his orchestra. The ebb and flow of the music is conveyed, to my mind, absolutely convincingly. This is my favorite recording of this music, bar none.

So, having said that the sound is fabulous for its time, and that Furtwängler is in superb form, I can only ask why, particularly at this bargain-basement price from Naxos (in what appears to be the first in a forthcoming series of Furtwängler reissues), you haven't already ordered it?

TT=67:05

Scott Morrison

A small series of recordings made in the late 1930s in Berlin proved to be of major significance. They carried to name of German conductor Wilhelm Furtwaengler to all parts of the world; they established that the Berlin Philharmonic was one of the world's best orchestras, and they guaranteed that if a complete recording of "Tristan und Isolde" were to be made, then Furtwaengler should be invited to conduct it. The complete recording materialized in 1952, but Furtwaengler never attempted a re-make of his 1938 recording of Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony.

Furtwaengler has an overall vision of the symphony's bleakness and sense of despair. Every subtle tempo fluctuation (and there are many, especially in the first movement) is addressed to helping achieve this vision. Virtuosity and brilliance are not displayed for their own sake, although Furtwaengler manages to ensure that a trumpet semi-quaver cuts through the heavy orchestral texture at Bar 246 in the first movement more accurately and tellingly than I have ever heard in other performances.

Mark Obert-Thorn's restoration work is exemplary. Some of the playing, especially in the Wagner performance, is very soft indeed, but even the tiniest signal emerges clearly here, well forward, and free of surface hiss.

I own the famous 1938 "Pathetique" under Furtwangler in three remasterings, each bought as new tchnology emerged. The first, part of EMI's "Tchaikovsky Historical" box, is the worst by far and represents the state of the art before it was an art. One hears a good source, presumably the original masters since there are no ticks and pops, emitting a steady white-noise hiss that is often louder than the music itself. The highs are painfully shrill, the lows clear but not powerful. A relic from the time when historical collectors got no respect.

The second remastering comes from a specialty British label, Biddulph, and its in-house restorer, Mark Obert-Thorn. We hear a leap forward in hiss reduction and the smoothing out of string tone. The ear doesn't recoil as much from shrillness in upper registers, there is noticeable color in the instrumental tone, and a living performance begins to emerge. Five or ten years ago, no one was doing any better.

When Naxos entered the historical field, it put all the small specialty labels in the shade, certainly as to price. But the company kept a commitment to quality remastering, and in this case Mark Obert-Thorn returned to Furtwangler's Pathetique with five new sources (he draws from private collections of 78s) and newer technology. As a result, the prevailing hiss has been drastically reduced and is all but unnoticable once the orchestra plays in higher registers. Pops and ticks are non-existent, and yet this noise-reduction hasn't marred the upper frequencies as the old Dobly process used to. Finally, we can hear real color from each instrument, all inner detail has been uncovered, and the thin brightness of the violins is reduced to a bearable level--this last flaw will always be the weakness of even the best old 78s. My only wish is that Obert-Thorn had added a little reverb for warmth, as the RCA restorers have done, to miraculous effect, with Toscanini's dry-as-dust recordings from the notorious Studio 8-H.

In all, anyone who loves old recordings might consider replacing previous incarnations of famous shellacs with the new Naxos versions, on the evidence of this excellent example--a real leap forward.

The music is superb, of course, but it is hard to believe how good, and natural, these old recordings sound--almost like decent 50s mono--kudos and thanks to Naxos for releasing these timeless performances.

Let's dispense with the hagiology. Famous though it be - for whatever obscure reason - this is not one of the great Pathetiques: first class maybe, legendary, no.

Compared with the sheer demonry that his nemesis conjured in 1971 Tchaikovsky: Symphonies 4, 5 & 6, Furtwangler's development section in the first movement (as we shall call it) is not marked with any great anguish - in fact, it is a bit of a plodder. The recessed recording is partially to blame but the baseline intensity is fitful at best. Strange: Furtwangler is normally not so cautious; one never senses that he is 'letting himself go'. Furtwangler brings more fervency to bear in the final movement but in the very least Karajan is his equal. Sound-wise they are poles apart.

Sonics aside, Furtwangler is likewise trumped if not thumped by his successor in the Wagner. Compare the key moment in the Prelude (Furtwangler 5'48 onwards and Karajan 6'15 onwards from Wagner: excerpts from: Tannhauser / Die Meistersinger / Tristan ). It is a non-contest. The latter was recorded at a key moment in the 35 year relationship between Herbie and the Berlin Philharmonic - and it shows. The extra "lift" that Karajan elicits at this point (and elsewhere throughout the Prelude and the Liebestod) generated the comment that if this combination had gone on to perform the entire opera there would have been no survivors. The Furtwangler alternative is memorable enough but it does not operate in the same sphere.

All in all, these performances warrant their longevity but don't allow arcane snobbery to cloud your judgement. In this instance - and there are many cases where the opposite is true - Herbie pumps Willie.

Thanks for your unhelpful votes in advance. But I would rather be refuted than howled down.

I love a lot of Furtwangler, but I can't recommend this recording as extraordinary. It has its moments, certainly, and the finale is particularly gripping, as I'd expect from a conduct of WF's sensibilities. But there are also weaknesses, and I feel he is being given a free pass because he's "Wilhelm Furtwangler." There's a certain odd flatness or sameness to the first movement to my ears--there's not much tension in the loud dramatic parts, not much release and repose in the secondary theme. Rhythmically, things are limp, the shapes of melodies somewhat distended. (Interestingly, Bernstein was slammed for this in his 1987 DG recording, but this performance is even more so.) There's no relationship among the many different tempi, and this symphony in particular is very dependent upon tempo and other structural relationships. (This is really very different from Tchaikovsky's symphonies, in ways I can't even go into in a short review. The short of it is so much tension is realized by the relationship among tempi. Here they are all very close, unusual for Furtwangler, who goes hogwild with tempo fluctuations in Beethoven and Brahms.) And a lot of the touches are heavy-handed--the background moment where Tchaikovsky quotes the Russian hymn "Rest him with the Saints," (which has led many to believe he is announcing his own "suicide" here) is so sqaure and flat here as to be robbed of all drama and portent.

The second movement, which in some ways is my favorite, is also too leaden. The secondary theme, which I find fascinating, lacks sadness, pathos. In fact, the whole symphony until the finale lacks pathos to my ears--not good for a symphony called "Pathetique." No, I don't want Furtwangler to wring every last drop of emotion a la Bernstein in 1987, but I really don't feel--and it's hard to explain this in a review--that he "gets" Tchaikovsky the way he gets Brahms or Bruckner, where he is almost unsurpassed. The orchestra never catches fire, is how I hear it. And if that is a problem with the first two movements, it becomes near-fatal in the marching third, which doesn't march as much as limp. In the finale everyone wakes up, it seems, and turns in an electrifying performance that I'd hoped for with the whole work. The big climax, with the accelerando coming just before, returns us to Furtwangler shaping music like putty, breaking bar lines and stopping time, thereby creating moments of near-unbearable tension. This is tremendous stuff--too bad he doesn't achieve the same intensity and transcendence in the movements before it. Honestly, after this recording I put on a performance by Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra, made around the same time, and it was more gripping--that from a conductor with a reputation for being genial and expansive.

With the Wagner, Furtwangler is on more familiar ground. This is a great performance, but there are many others to choose from, including others by this conductor, and so I can't justify the purchase of this disc just for that, unless you're a WF completest.

Others have said the sound is much improved over earlier incarnations. I've never heard those other incarnations, so I can't comment. But overall the sound is about what you'd expect for reasonably-well mastered 1938 material. I think things are a little muffled and recessed, and I agree a little added reverb might have helped with a tendency towards dryness. But overall the sound is listenable without being fatiguing. But the performance...? I don't find it indispensable, but your mileage may differ, and the disc is cheap, so you may want to try it anyway. But I'm not convinced this is one of the truly great performances of the Pathetique.