Search - Ludwig van Beethoven, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra :: Beethoven: Symphony No. 4 & No. 7

Graceful, Buoyant Fourth, Towering, Exhausting Seventh!

Ralph J. Steinberg | New York, NY United States | 01/21/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"We usually think of Furtwangler as a romantic conductor, but in Beethoven's Fourth Symphony, for all it's tempo freedom, he achieves really a more classical kind of elegance and grace that are not compromised by his usual intensity. Songfulness, vigor, reflectiveness are the keynotes of this performance. As for the Seventh, the opening Poco sostenuto, with its sledgehammer chords, sets the stage for a surging, titanic interpretation that seems always to be pointing the Finale, a veritable hurricane of sound. Speaking of sound, Opus Kura has done it again, with a fullness and clarity of sound not heard in other transfers, including DG.



There is no question about it: Furtwangler was and still is the greatest Beethoven conductor."