Furtwangler sets his own feet in Nirvana with this Beethoven Ninth

Beethoven: Symphony no. 9 in D, op. 125 "Choral"

Elisabeth, Schwarzkopf, soprano
Elsa Cavelti, contralto
Ernst Hafliger, tenor
Otto Edelmann, baritone

Philharmonia Orchestra

Wilhelm Furtwangler, conductor.

recorded live in Lucerne on 22 August 1954
available on Music and Arts






There is no fewer than several Beethoven 9 recordings by Furtwangler himself and the most famous three stands; wartime 1942 with Berlin Philharmonic, 1951 Bayreuth Festival recording on EMI (which is the mos famous of all) and this 1954 Lucerne Festival featuring Philharmonia at its peak. At the time I consider the Philharmonia ensemble the finest orchestra in Europe at its time, the others like BPO, VPO and Concertgebouw still rebuilding itself from the devastation of Second World War.

The text in the CD booklet quoted from The Furtwangler Record, gives listeners rare insight on Furtwangler's views and opinions that formed his interpretation of the work. There has been confusion on the text set on a part of An die Fruede by Friedrich Schiller, since explanations had been given for example by Richard Wagner. Wagner criticized that the text does not fit the music but Furtwangler argued "Beethoven approached the text purely as a musician". Furtwangler argued that the composer was searching for suitable words to illustrate musicians and was not concerned with the explicit details of the text which would hinder his musical expression. "A more realistic poet would perhaps had given preference to one definite manifestation of joy rather than to the idea of joy. But the latter suited Beethoven's purpose exactly," quote Furtwangler.

Beethoven's Ninth had been a revolutionary work, incorporating voices into the last movement and in the beginning recapitulating themes from earlier movement. Charles Rosen has characterized the movement as "a symphony within a symphony" with four sequences played without interruption. Thus the whole movement alone was realised perfectly by Furtwangler in which every episode is seamlessly interlinked and happens with purpose. In addition, with outstanding engineering the chorus is unlike anything you may hear in a typical Beethoven 9th, Teutonic and brimming with authority. The voice casting is exceptionally perfect without any flaws whatsoever from Scharzkopf, Cavelti, Hafliger and Edelmann.

This recording is probably the best Furtwangler recording to introduce the conductor himself. Here, his interpretative powers reached its absolute peak with the Adagio at its most transcendent. It sounds rather like a church hymn than a Bruckner Adagio and the transition that follows to the Finale is absolute genius. The Philharmonia was familiar and receptive to the Maestro's command and every single bar, every note, every line pulses with organic creativity. If you love music, you must own this album.


Technical: 10
Interpretation: 10
Sound: 8

MPO new 08/09 season sets to be promising

Who would've thought? After drab seasons last few seasons, there is optimism in new 08/09 season. Claus Peter Flor taking over as Music Director is the best news for Malaysian classical music scene as he is one of the most consistent guess conductor who has ever graced the podium after Kees Bakels. Not just that, Borodin Quartet has been announced as official Artist-in-Residence for DFP. Now if that's not mindblowing, I do not know what because they're the oldest and most respectable string quartet group since Amadeus Quartet. They will play two evenings with MPO which one of them features Spohr's concerto for string quartet and orchestra and two evenings of recitals featuring works by Smetana, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Beethoven and Borodin.

Speaking of soloists, no surprise Bang Bang is coming back for what, 3rd time? He obviously needs suckers here to lick his overrated ass. Subscribers can lap his tickets off while the single ticket buyers has no chance two days later. Why can't pianists like Zimerman and Volodos come back here as often as Bang Bang? I'd rather watch Yundi Li but anyway I digress. Marc-Andre Hamelin is coming to play Brahms 2, and Cyprien Katsaris will play Mozart with MPO too w00t! Sarah Chang collaborates with MPO for a Bruch violin concerto. Christian Tetzlaff will play Berg with Deutsches Radio Symphonie Orchester Berlin, which is the only foreign orchestra coming (other than a period ensemble from Italy). The hoo-haa about Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra coming didn't materialise.

What about the repertoire? This probably is the most disappointing although given credit, we're hearing a Lutoslawski 3rd, Suk's Astral symphony, a Szymanowsky 4th and Malaysian premier of Smetana's Ma Vlast (after 10 seasons? sheeesh). The Mahler 3rd, gigantic and long still possible to be performed at DFP remains a pipe dream with MPO now rehashing Mahler 6 (although with Claus Peter Flor conduct it is still awesome). And Malaysians are not having one, two but THREE BRUCKNER symphonies! MPO will perform Bruckner 4 and 5 while Deutsche Radio Berlin Symphony will perform Bruckner 7. Bruckner symphonies are usually one long snoozefest even if performed properly, so is this necessary (not that it's a bad thing)? Speaking of Messiaen centenary, MPO STILL HASN'T GOT BALLS TO PERFORM TURANGALILA SYMPHONIE! We're still waiting dammit!