Furtwangler's 9th on Arkipel.


I am listening to recording from 1954 of Wilhelm Furtwangler conducting LvB 9th. The 24 bit remastering really gives a sense of presence.
richardfinegold
Glad you like too. I have this on a Turnabout 2 Lp set. Seems to have more "there" there than even the SACD, taken from Melodiya? Lp's.

Pity the choral distortion at points. Otherwise like it far better than the '51, with its agonizingly slow and poorly played slow mov't.

What a wild ride.
Comparing a performance from 70 years ago to a new recording with the latest technologies is nonsense. My point when I started the thread was that this particular remastering makes the performance more immediate and compelling than we are used to hearing with recordings of this vintage.
I have about 15 recordings of the 9th, including 3 SACD versions (Vanska, Masur, Herreweghe ). Furtwangler is a special musician , whatever his politics were. Are his recordings "better" than other famous conductors? No answer to that, but I don't think that any of the worthy conductors mentioned above will be generating this kind of discussion 50 years after their demise.
Read more than 5 books about Furtwangler's wartime activities, I still don't want to join the discussion regarding Furtwangler's political position during Nazi era.

Let music be music alone.

Here is another interesting recording. Furtwangler conducted Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and performed Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 at Salzburg Festival on August 31 1951. It was just one month after the historical Bayreuth reopening performance (July 29 1951).

Orfeo C 533 001 B

Hope you will enjoy it.

Happy Listening.

Otto
Otto you are definitely the living encyclopedia of classical music recordings.
Just so happens I have the abovementioned recording in CD in front of me, an EMI ARt reissue of that performance.
BTW you still have the SA11 and the Ming Da?
Cheers,
-Johnson
Hi Johnson,

It is nice to talk to you again. I traveled abroad for the past 2 years and now I am back.

Yes, I still have both pre-amplifiers and you are welcome to stop-by anytime. I am thinking to post the Ming-Da for sale.

Otto