Search - Beethoven, Furtwangler, Vienna Phil Orch :: Symphonies 1 & 3

The least of Furtwangler's four Eroicas--but the best soundi

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 07/30/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Furtwangler conducted the music of Beethoven on half of every concert he led over a lfetime. Reviewing this studio-made Eroica from 1952, the Gramophone's critic called it a pale shadow of Furtwangler's live concert readings. To him, a concert boradcast from Berlin that same year was the greatest Eroica ever recorded (1952, on Tahra). Yet even when he was shining in the concert hall, Furtwangler found extra intensity during the war years, and there's a third Eroica, a radio broadcast with the Vienna Phil. from June, 1944 (on Tahra) that's my candidate for the best. Because Furtwangler conducted the Eroica dozens of times, you can also choose another wartime broadcast from Vienna in June, 1944 (on Music & Arts).



In this case I think the conventional wisdom is correct. This EMI studio recording, even though it's in excellent mono sound for its day, seems to lack the right spark. Nothing is slack or sluggish, but Furtwangler doesn't seem very involved. In all four the timings are more or less consistent, the only notable change being in the first movement, which Furtwangler takes a minute faster in 1944. If you decide to go for the live recordings, be aware of their sonic limittions. The best soudning is the 1954 Berlin reading on Tahra. It's a bit shrill, but so are the wartime readings, and those seriously lack bass.



The First Sym. is no mere filler. Furtwangler conducts the work as mature Beethoven, not a holdover from Hayydn, and on its own terms it is energetic and full of interesting points. The Vienna Phil. plays beautifully and EMI's mono sound is quite listenable. I'd award it five stars."