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Wilhelm Furtwängler in Vienna: An amazing collection

Y.P. | Mount Messiaen, Utah | 11/11/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I wish to provide some information for this set. I almost missed this gem myself due to the incorrect/insufficient information provided at Amazon's page.



First of all, small corrections. The correct title for this 3 CD set is "Wilhelm Furtwängler in Vienna". (I have no idea how Amazon got this title "Remaining Unissued Recordings".) In the "Number of Discs" entry, it shows "2", but there are 3 discs.



Secondly, all tracks here are recorded in STUDIO with Wiener Philharmoniker between 1948 and 1954, the year of the great conductor's death. Most of the earlier recordings were produced by Walter Legge et. al., and later ones by Lawrance Collingwood et. al.. They are all studio recordings, and the sound is as good as it can be for the period.



Thirdly, the collection contains many of the Furtwängler's recordings not easily found elsewhere. For example, his interpretation of Liszt's Les Preludes remains my favorite of this popular piece. Mozart's Symphony in g (K.550) is another favorite of mine. Others (see below) are uniformly good. They give a good idea of Furtwängler's view of music by composers other than Beethoven and Bruckner, Brahms, R. Strauss, Wagner etc. whose music he recorded many times.



Lastly, it looks like that it will go out-of-print pretty soon. Any admirers of Wilhelm Furtwängler's art should get it before it disappears from the catalogue!



This set's booklet contains an informative article by Alan Sanders. In particular, it explains why Furtwängler's EMI studio recordings were almost exclusively made with Wiener Philharmoniker (instead of Berliner Phil). Quite an interesting read.



Very highly recommended.

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Since Amazon's listing of tracks is quite poor, I will attempt to sketch what's contained in this set. (Recording years in parentheses.)



Disc one:



1. Gluck: Alceste, Overture (1954)



2-5. Mozart: Symphony in g minor, No. 40, K.550 (1948-9)



6-7. Mozart: Die Zauberfloete, K.620 (1950) Soprano Wilma Lipp (Queen of Night) (1950)

6. Act I: "O zitt're nicht"

7. Act II: "Der Hoelle Rache"



8. Gluck: Iphigenie en Aulide, Overture (1954)



9-12. Haydn: Symphony in G, No. 94, "Surprise" (1951)



******

Disc 2



1-3. Schubert: Rosamunde (1951)

1. Overture

2-3. Incidental music



4-5. Schubert: Symphony in b minor, D.759, "Unfinished" (1950)



6. Schumann: Manfred overture, Op.115 (1953)



7. Liszt: Les Preludes, S.97 (1954)



******

Disc 3



1. Cherubini: Anacreon Overture (1951)



2-4. Weber: Overtures

2. Der Freischuetz (1954)

3. Euryanthe (1954)

4. Oberon (1950)



5. Mendelssohn: The Hebrides Overture Op.26 (1949)



6. Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust Op.24, Hungarian March (1949)



7. Nicolai: Die lstigen Welber von Windsor, Overture (1951)



8. Johann Strauss II & I: Pizzicato Polka (1950)



9. Johann Strauss II: Kaiserwalzer (1950)"