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