Here is a program devoted to Beethoven featuring recordings by one of the most famous 20th century conductors - Wilhelm Furtwängler. The soloist is violinist Yehudi Menuhin.These recordings were made late in the conductor's career - from 1952 to 1954. Furtwängler died in late 1954 at age 68.
The program begins with Beethoven's Leonore Overture No. 2, followed by the Violin Concerto and the Symphony No. 3.
Furtwängler was often contrasted with the other preeminent conductor of his time - Arturo Toscanini. Here is the critic Neville Cardus in a tribute published following Furtwängler's death: "[He] conducted in a manner exactly opposed to the Toscanini objectivity: in plainer words, he did not regard the printed notes of the score as a final statement, but rather as so many symbols of an imaginative conception, ever changing and always to be felt and realized subjectively. His variations and tempo often irritated musicians who, in increasing numbers during a period of anti-romanticism, persuaded themselves to believe in music as an arrangement of patterns conveying no emotion or meaning reducible to terms or language related to merely human or egoistical significance."
Furtwängler paradoxically conducted in a manner than appeared improvisational, while also seeming to penetrate to the work's essence - at least to his admirers, of whom there are still many. He was a remarkable figure.
Leonore Overture No. 2, Op. 72a
Beethoven wrote no fewer than four overtures for his only opera, which eventually was called Fidelio. The original title was Leonore, after one of the leading characters, and three of the overtures carry her name. Furtwängler programmed the Leonore Overture No. 2, Op. 72a, which, to add to the confusion, was actually the first Beethoven composed. It is quite long (this performance lasts almost 16 minutes); the others were more succinct.
Here is Timothy Judd's precis of the opera: "The plot centers on a heroic struggle for liberty: Leonore, disguised as a male prison guard named Fidelio, rescues her husband Florestan from political imprisonment and death by gradual starvation."
Judd then discusses Op. 72a: "The Overture opens with a titanic unison G which gives way to a searching, descending, modal scale - a musical descent into the darkness of Florestan’s prison cell ... A few moments later, the theme from Florestan’s soliloquy offers a glimmer of light amid mystery and lonely solitude. This music is filled with a sense of heroic struggle, an intense longing for freedom, and Florestan’s thoughts of Leonore ... Just as Leonore Overture No. 2 reaches a climax of ferocity, a sudden, distant trumpet call is heard, signaling Florestan’s impending freedom. At first, there is numb shock and disbelief. Then, the Overture’s final bars erupt into a joyful, unabashed celebration of freedom."
The recording, with the Berlin Philharmonic, is from 1954.
Violin Concerto in D, Op. 61
Yehudi Menuhin recorded several concertos with Furtwängler, with whom he had a great affinity. On a broadcast following the conductor's death, he stated, "Furtwängler was perhaps the last exponent of a tradition carrying us as far back as the Indians and the Greeks, a tradition of music as a hallowed link with divinity, with the Gods. As we all too tritely say, nothing is sacred today, but I believe something should be and some music should be. Furtwängler accomplished a sacred rite each time he conducted a Beethoven or a Brahms or a Bach work."
 |
| Wilhelm Furtwängler and Yehudi Menuhin |
Their recording of the Violin Concerto is a classic. The Gramophone's verdict: "This [is] an exhibition of superb fiddling, but there is in the performance also a poise, a spaciousness and depth of musical feeling for which it would be less than just not to suggest that Furtwängler was equally responsible ... Menuhin gives a magnificent reading of the work (not without deviations from the printed notes in a couple of places) which will stand the test of the most searching analysis and more than satisfy those whom the perfect recording has long eluded."
Furtwängler and Menuhin recorded the work in London with the Philharmonia Orchestra in 1953.
Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55 (Eroica)
Beethoven first wanted to name his third symphony "Bonaparte" in honor of Napoleon. But after Napoleon declared himself emperor - to the composer's dismay - Beethoven changed the title to "Eroica," or the "Heroic Symphony, Composed to celebrate the memory of a great man."
The cover of this original Electrola LP may lead you to think that the "hero" was the conductor, but in actuality this is a famous performance that is true to Beethoven's intentions. The critic Michael Marcus wrote: "The performance is a great one. Here Furtwängler shows incomparably how to extract the utmost meaning from any phrase while never losing sight of the over-all design. The lead into the coda of the first movement is a masterpiece of sustained and controlled tension, and in the coda itself the giant stride of the composer's imagination is unforgettably unleashed. The Finale, too, is welded together with supreme force and vigour, and the Vienna Philharmonic horns are superb."
Furtwängler attempted to penetrate to the core of the work; and in that aim he was not different from that of Roger Norrington in the recording of the Ninth Symphony recently heard here. Their methods, however, were opposed, with the younger maestro seeking insight from Beethoven's markings and the evidence as to the instruments and sound of the orchestra in the early 19th century, while Furtwängler, as Menuhin put it, was an exponent of "a tradition of music as a hallowed link with divinity." In contrast, Norrington remarked that conducting is "not about consecrating a sacred object. It’s about exploring and being curious and having fun."
The Furtwängler Eroica recording was made in late 1952 in Vienna.
The sound on all these discs is quite good.
