Editing Wilhelm Furtwängler (section)

== Notable recordings ==
There are a huge number of Furtwängler recordings currently available, mostly live. Many of these were made during [[World War II]] using experimental tape technology. After the war they were confiscated by the [[Soviet Union]] for decades, and have only recently become widely available, often on multiple labels. In spite of their limitations, the recordings from this era are widely admired by Furtwängler devotees.

The following represents only a small selection of some of Furtwängler's most famed recordings.
{{listen|type=music
 | filename     = Furt brahms 2.ogg
 | title        = Symphony No. 2 (Brahms), 1st movement
 | description  = Furtwängler's handling of this passage from the first movement of [[Symphony No. 2 (Brahms)|Brahms's Second Symphony]] has been widely praised]{{citation needed|date=November 2012}} for its handling of tempo and mood.}}
* [[Johann Sebastian Bach]], ''[[St Matthew Passion]]'' (first half only), live performance with the [[Vienna Philharmonic]], 1952 ([[Südwestfunk]])
* [[Béla Bartók|Bartók]], [[Violin Concerto No. 2 (Bartók)|Violin Concerto No. 2]], studio recording with [[Yehudi Menuhin]] and with the [[Philharmonia Orchestra]], 1953 (EMI)
* [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]], [[Symphony No. 3 (Beethoven)|Third Symphony]], live performance with the Vienna Philharmonic, December 1944 (Music and Arts, Preiser, Tahra){{efn|1=About this recording, often considered one of the most important ones of the 20th century, [[John Ardoin]] wrote: "The magnificent 1944 performance with the Vienna Philharmonic [is] an authenticated performance that is not only Furtwängler's noblest and most compelling ''Eroica'', but one unrivalled on disc."{{sfn|Ardoin|1994|p=120}}{{pb}}"A performance of prodigious classicism, it presents us with figures that seem to us to be made of stone by virtue of their nobility and of fire because of their compelling urgency, but which, on the wings of a scherzo at the pace of a march, suddenly releases the infinite – {{em|placed on record}}", [[André Tubeuf]], EMI C 051-63332, 1969.{{pb}}{{cite magazine
| url = https://www.gramophone.co.uk/feature/a-guide-to-the-best-recordings-of-beethovens-symphony-no-3-eroica
| title = A guide to the best recordings of Beethoven's Symphony No 3, ''Eroica''
| magazine = [[Gramophone (magazine)|Gramophone]]
| access-date = 7 May 2019|quote=In the high peaks of the Marcia funebre and in the finale, the 1944 Vienna performance remains unsurpassed ... No conductor articulates the drama of the ''Eroica'' – human and historical, individual and universal – more powerfully or eloquently than Furtwängler. Of his 11 extant recordings, it is this 1944 Vienna account, closely followed by the 1950 Berlin version, which most merits pride of place.}}}}
* Beethoven, [[Symphony No. 3 (Beethoven)|Third Symphony]], live performance with the [[Berlin Philharmonic]], December 1952 (Tahra)
* Beethoven, [[Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven)|Fifth Symphony]], live performance with the Berlin Philharmonic, June 1943 (Classica d'Oro, Deutsche Grammophon, Enterprise, Music and Arts, Opus Kura, Tahra)
* Beethoven, [[Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven)|Fifth Symphony]], live performance with the Berlin Philharmonic, May 1954 (Tahra)
* Beethoven, [[Symphony No. 6 (Beethoven)|Sixth Symphony]], live performance with the Berlin Philharmonic, March 1944 (Tahra)
* Beethoven, [[Symphony No. 7 (Beethoven)|Seventh Symphony]], live performance with the Berlin Philharmonic, October 1943 (Classica d'Oro, Deutsche Grammophon, Music and Arts, Opus Kura){{efn|1=[[Harry Halbreich]] wrote in his analysis of this performance: "Does the second movement remain an ''Allegretto'' under Furtwängler's baton? Many critics have raised this question, troubled by the spaciousness even more than in Berlin than in Vienna [in 1950]. And yet, why hesitate? From the first bars, this perfection overrules us – beyond doubt, this is humanely, organically the right tempo and it would be completely insensitive and unmusical to argue otherwise ... Who could describe the incredible beauty of phrasing of the song of violas and cellos ... the sublime expressiveness of the violins? ... The second theme on its reappearance seems still more moving and expressive ... This ''Finale'' was always one of Furtwängler's great warhorses and undoubtedly the summit of this interpretation ... Furtwängler relives his unbelievable performance of the end of the Fifth Symphony in June 1943, four months before, launching into a break-taking acceleration without the unleashed forces ever escaping the control of the brilliant leader. 'I am the Bacchus who distils the delicious nectar for mankind, and brings them to divine frenzy of the spirit': thus Beethoven explained himself. But it takes a [[demiurge]] like Furtwängler, that autumn day in 1943, to bring that frenzy to life in sound!", [[Harry Halbreich]], ''CD Furtwängler conducts Beethoven'', SWF 941, 1994, p. 11.}}
* Beethoven, [[Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)|Ninth Symphony]], live performance with the Berlin Philharmonic, March 1942 with {{ill|Tilla Briem|de}}, [[Elisabeth Höngen]], [[Peter Anders (tenor)|Peter Anders]], [[Rudolf Watzke]], and the Bruno Kittel Choir (Classica d'Oro, Music and Arts, Opus Kura, Tahra, SWF){{efn|1=[[Harry Halbreich]] wrote in his analysis of this performance that, for the first movement, "nobody has ever approached Furtwängler in the evocation of this terrifying release of cosmic forces" and about the ''Adagio'': "in its superhuman spaciousness, which seems to seek to renounce human time and to align itself with that of creation, was not this ''Adagio'' the highest achievement of Wilhelm Furtwängler's art? Certainly no other conductor allowed himself such interpretative scope, and none put himself so much at risk. Yet on actual hearing the tempi prove so right, so natural lending themselves so perfectly to the whole presentation of the musical thought that one can hardly imagine anything different". For the ''Finale'', he says: "from bar 321 Furtwängler imperiously asserts his presence with a gradual ''allargando'' building up to the colossal ''fortissimo'' of bar 330 followed by a timeless pause, a divine vision in which Beethoven, thanks to an interpreter worthy of him, equals the stature of the [[Michelangelo]] of the [[Sistine Chapel]]", [[Harry Halbreich]], ''CD Beethoven, [[Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)|Ninth Symphony]]'', SWF 891R, 2001, pp. 8–10.{{pb}}"The 1942 performance in Berlin is one of the most convincing proofs of Furtwängler's rebellion during Germany's tragic era, while the nazis tried in vain to bury the great German musical heritage by using it for their sinister ends. Furtwängler fought for it and strived to save it from their cluthes", Sami Habra, ''CD Furtwängler, Beethoven's Choral Symphony'', Tahra FURT 1101–1104, p. 19.}}
* Beethoven, [[Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)|Ninth Symphony]], live performance at the 29 July 1951 re-opening of [[Bayreuther Festspiele]] (not to be confused with EMI's release) with [[Elisabeth Schwarzkopf]], [[Elisabeth Höngen]], [[Hans Hopf]] and [[Otto Edelmann]]. (Orfeo D'or, 2008).{{efn|Sami Habra wrote regarding this very famous concert: "Yet, after the war, he had to prove to the World that German musical Art had indeed survived that fateful period as well as some attempts by the Allies to ignore or undermine German culture. The whole musical world retained its breath while Beethoven was universally re-born when Furtwängler conducted the Ninth for the re-opening of Bayreuth in 1951." Sami Habra, ''CD Furtwängler, Beethoven's Choral Symphony'', Tahra FURT 1101–1104, p. 19.}}
* Beethoven, [[Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)|Ninth Symphony]], ostensibly a live performance at the 29 July 1951 re-opening of [[Bayreuther Festspiele]] but purported by the president of the Wilhelm Furtwängler Society of America to actually be dress-rehearsal takes edited by EMI into one recording, all performed prior to the actual public performance. (EMI, 1955).<ref name=Immink>{{cite journal
 | url=http://www.turing-machines.com/pdf/beethoven.htm
 | title=Shannon, Beethoven, and the Compact Disc
 |author=[[Kees A. Schouhamer Immink]]
 |journal=IEEE Information Theory Newsletter
 | pages=42–46
 | year=2007
 | access-date=12 December 2007
}}</ref>
* Beethoven, [[Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)|Ninth Symphony]], live performance at the 1954 [[Lucerne Festival]] with the [[Philharmonia Orchestra|London Philharmonia]], Lucerne Festival Choir, [[Elisabeth Schwarzkopf]], [[Elsa Cavelti]], [[Ernst Haefliger]] and [[Otto Edelmann]] (Music and Arts, Tahra).{{efn|1=Sami Habra said: "The Lucerne 1954 concert, Furtwängler's last performance of the Ninth, allowed the listener an even deeper insight into the great conductor's art, the most important impression being that of abyssal depths that permeate this Swan song: no doubt Furtwängler sensed his end was near...", Sami Habra, ''CD Furtwängler, Beethoven's Choral Symphony'', Tahra FURT 1101–1104, p. 19.}}
* Beethoven, [[Violin Concerto (Beethoven)|Violin Concerto]], studio recording with [[Yehudi Menuhin]] and with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, 1947 (Testament)
* Beethoven, [[Piano Concerto No. 5 (Beethoven)|Piano Concerto No. 5]], studio recording with [[Edwin Fischer]] and with the [[Philharmonia Orchestra]], 1951 (Naxos)
* Beethoven, [[Fidelio]], live performance with the Vienna Philharmonic with [[Elisabeth Schwarzkopf]], [[Kirsten Flagstad]], [[Anton Dermota]], [[Julius Patzak]], [[Paul Schoeffler]], [[Josef Greindl]], and Hans Braun, August 1950 (Opus Kura)
* Beethoven, [[Fidelio]], both live and studio recordings, with [[Martha Mödl]], his preferred soprano, in the title role, and [[Wolfgang Windgassen]], Otto Edelmann, Gottlob Frick, Sena Jurinac, Rudolf Schock, Alfred Poell, Alwin Hendriks, Franz Bierbach, and the Vienna Philharmonic.
* [[Johannes Brahms|Brahms]], [[Symphony No. 1 (Brahms)|First Symphony]], live performance with the [[North German Radio Symphony Orchestra]], Hamburg, October 1951 (Music and Arts, Tahra).{{efn|1="This Brahms 1st turned out to be Furtwängler's best version ... More than ever, the broad opening, with the hammering of Friedrich Weber on the timpani and the soaring strings of that magnificent ensemble, impress the listener. The special quality of the string section, miraculously dense and transparent at the same time, permeates the whole work. The four great fortissimi of the first movement have an irresistible 'élan', the long lyrical phrases of the second movement enchant the listener with their intensity. The third movement is Furtwängler at his most feverish here, and full of serenity is reached only after the repeated trumpet calls ... The 4th movement is played with unmistakable grandeur and solemnity, as indeed the whole work is. While keeping Brahms' personality in mind, Furtwängler nevertheless brings out Beethoven's influence on Brahms ... No wonder the French critics bestowed upon this recording the [[Diapason d'Or]] of the century...", Sami Habra, ''CD Wilhelm Furtwängler, his legendary post-war recordings'', Tahra, Harmonia Mundi, FURT 1054/1057, p. 19.}}
* Brahms, [[Symphony No. 2 (Brahms)|Second Symphony]], live performance with the Vienna Philharmonic, January 1945 (Deutsche Grammophon, Music and Arts)
* Brahms, [[Symphony No. 3 (Brahms)|Third Symphony]], live performance with the Berlin Philharmonic, December 1949 (EMI).{{efn|1="Furtwängler's interpretations of Brahms go beyond the merely 'composed' notation and realise the vision of the organic form that hovered before Brahms but can no longer be attained. Herein lies the explanation of the flawless formal architecture of his interpretations as well as the psychical compulsion of their musical performance that never becomes lost in detail but, to the contrary, always keeps the work as a whole in view. In this recording, notwithstanding his traditional interpretative style Furtwängler, unlike many a younger composer, lays more stress on the characteristics beyond the classical model symphony that herald the new trend: 'Spiritual life' which Furtwängler traces and creates anew in each work – in this symphony, energetic and vigorous though it is, spiritual life is not concentrated on the dualism of the themes, the dramatic development and the intensity of the finale, but above all on the variety of tone-colours which are here formative energy that puts a constantly changing complexion on the scarcely modulated themes and motifs and becomes the favourite means of musical expression.", Sigurd Schimpf, EMI C 049-01 146.}}
* Brahms, [[Symphony No. 4 (Brahms)|Fourth Symphony]], live performance with the Berlin Philharmonic, December 1943 (Tahra, SWF)
* Brahms, [[Symphony No. 4 (Brahms)|Fourth Symphony]], live performance with the Berlin Philharmonic, October 1948 (EMI)
* Brahms, [[Violin Concerto (Brahms)|Violin Concerto]], studio recording with [[Yehudi Menuhin]] and with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, 1949 (Tahra, Naxos)
* Brahms, [[Piano Concerto No. 2 (Brahms)|Piano Concerto No. 2]], live performance with [[Edwin Fischer]] and with the Berlin Philharmonic, 1942 (Testament)
* [[Anton Bruckner|Bruckner]], [[Symphony No. 4 (Bruckner)|Fourth Symphony]], live performance with the Berlin Philharmonic, October 1941 (WFCJ)
* Bruckner, [[Symphony No. 5 (Bruckner)|Fifth Symphony]], live performance with the Berlin Philharmonic, October 1942 (Classica d'Oro, Deutsche Grammophon, Music and Arts, Testament).{{efn|1="The interpretation is typically manic: very fast, and very slow. It lurches about impulsively and has thrilling moments–but also some pretty distressing examples of shoddy ensemble, particularly in the scherzo and finale. It was all too seldom that Furtwängler managed to keep his band together to allow him to time his climaxes optimally. A classic case of 'overshoot' occurs at the end of the first movement, which sounds terribly rushed. The Adagio, though, is magnificent...", {{cite web
| url = http://www.classicstoday.com/review/review-16108/
| title = Bruckner: Symphony No. 5/Furtwängler
| website = classicstoday.com
| access-date = 10 November 2012}}}}
* Bruckner, [[Symphony No. 6 (Bruckner)|Sixth Symphony]] (the first movement is missing), live performance with the Berlin Philharmonic, November 1943 (Music and Arts)
* Bruckner, [[Symphony No. 7 (Bruckner)|Seventh Symphony]] (''adagio'' only), live performance with the Berlin Philharmonic] April 1942 (Tahra).{{efn|1="Furtwängler has always been Bruckner's greatest exponent ... Again, the tragic element and grandeur are unequalled here. This is a 'desert island' recording, fortunately restored for music lovers of this World to cherish all their life", Sami Habra, CD ''Furtwängler "revisited"'', FURT 1099, Tahra, 2005, p. 10.}}
* Bruckner, [[Symphony No. 8 (Bruckner)|Eighth Symphony]], live performance with the Vienna Philharmonic, October 1944 (Deutsche Grammophon, Music and Arts)
* Bruckner, [[Symphony No. 9 (Bruckner)|Ninth Symphony]], live performance with the Berlin Philharmonic, October 1944 (Deutsche Grammophon)
* [[César Franck|Franck]], [[Symphony in D minor (Franck)|Symphony]], live performance with the Vienna Philharmonic, 1945 (SWF)
* Furtwängler, [[Symphony No. 2 (Furtwängler)|Second Symphony]], live performance with the Vienna Philharmonic, February 1953 (Orfeo)
* [[Christoph Willibald Gluck|Gluck]], [[Alceste (Gluck)|Alceste]] Ouverture, studio recording with the Vienna Philharmonic, 1954 (SWF)
* [[George Frideric Handel|Haendel]], Concerto Grosso Opus 6 No. 10, live performance with the Berlin Philharmonic, February 1944 (Melodiya)
* [[George Frideric Handel|Haendel]], Concerto Grosso Opus 6 No. 10, live performance with the [[Teatro Colón]] Orchester, 1950 (Disques Refrain)
* [[Joseph Haydn|Haydn]], [[Symphony No. 88 (Haydn)|88th Symphony]], studio recording with the Berlin Philharmonic, 5 December 1951 (Deutsche Grammophon)
* [[Paul Hindemith|Hindemith]], [[Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber]], studio recording with the Berlin Philharmonic, 16 September 1947 (Deutsche Grammophon, Urania)
* [[Gustav Mahler|Mahler]], [[Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen]], live performance with [[Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau]] and the Vienna Philharmonic, 1951 (Orfeo)
* Mahler, [[Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen]], studio recording with [[Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau]] and the [[Philharmonia Orchestra]], 1952 (Naxos, EMI)
* [[Felix Mendelssohn|Mendelssohn]], [[Violin Concerto (Mendelssohn)|Violin Concerto]], studio recording with [[Yehudi Menuhin]] and with the Berlin Philharmonic, 1952 (Naxos, EMI)
* [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]], ''[[Don Giovanni]]'', the 1950, 1953 and 1954 [[Salzburg Festival]] recordings (in live performance). These have been made available on several labels, but mostly [[EMI]]. A filmed performance of ''[[Don Giovanni]]'' is also available, featuring [[Cesare Siepi]], [[Otto Edelmann]], [[Lisa Della Casa]], [[Elisabeth Grümmer]], and [[Anton Dermota]].
* Mozart, ''[[Die Zauberflöte]]'', a live performance from 27 August 1949, featuring [[Walther Ludwig]], [[Irmgard Seefried]], [[Wilma Lipp]], [[Gertrud Grob-Prandl]], [[Ernst Haefliger]], [[Hermann Uhde]], and [[Josef Greindl]].
* [[Franz Schubert|Schubert]], [[Symphony No. 8 (Schubert)|Eighth Symphony]], live performance with the Berlin Philharmonic, December 1944 (SWF)
* [[Franz Schubert|Schubert]]. [[Symphony No. 9 (Schubert)|Ninth Symphony]], studio recording with the Berlin Philharmonic, 1951 (Deutsche Grammophon). The first movement is a supreme example of Furtwaengler's style. Note the sharp accelerandi at the end of the introduction and the middle of the recapitulation.
* Schubert, [[Symphony No. 9 (Schubert)|Ninth Symphony]], live performance with the Berlin Philharmonic, 1942 (Deutsche Grammophon, Magic Master, Music and Arts, Opus Kura)
* Schubert, ''[[Die Zauberharfe]]'' Overture, live performance with the Berlin Philharmonic, September 1953 (Deutsche Grammophon)
* [[Robert Schumann|Schumann]], [[Symphony No. 4 (Schumann)|Fourth Symphony]], studio recording with the Berlin Philharmonic, [[Deutsche Grammophon]], May 1953 (Deutsche Grammophon).{{efn|1="Schumann's Fourth [has] long [been regarded] as the recording of the century (along with the [[His Master's Voice (British record label)|His Master's Voice]] ''Tristan'') ... Before the boisterous last movement starts, there is the famous transitional passage in which Furtwängler builds up the most impressive crescendo ever heard. This crescendo is referred to by Conservatoire teachers and conductors as being the very perfection, in spite of its infeasibility. [[Sergiu Celibidache|Celibidache]] and [[Herbert von Karajan|Karajan]] have tried to imitate Furtwängler in this part on some occasions, but both conductors run out of breath towards the middle of the crescendo. This Furtwängler performance has yet to be equalled...", Sami Habra, CD ''Furtwängler "revisited", FURT 1099, Tahra, 2005, p. 11.}}
* [[Jean Sibelius|Sibelius]], ''[[En saga]]'', live performance with the Berlin Philharmonic, February 1943 (SWF)
{{external media|audio1=[https://archive.org/details/TCHAIKOVSKYSymphonyNo.6Pathetique-NEWTRANSFER/04.Iv.Finale-AdagioLamentoso.mp3 Wilhelm Furtwängler conducting] Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 (''Pathétique'') with the Berlin Philharmonic in 1938}}
* [[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky|Tchaikovsky]], [[Symphony No. 4 (Tchaikovsky)|Fourth Symphony]], studio recording with the Vienna Philharmonic, 1951 (Tahra)
* Tchaikovsky, [[Symphony No. 6 (Tchaikovsky)|Sixth Symphony ''Pathétique'']], studio recording with the Berlin Philharmonic, [[His Master's Voice (British record label)|His Master's Voice]], 1938 (EMI, Naxos).{{efn|1="According to Friedland Wagner, this 1938 performance of the ''Pathetique'' by Furtwängler was so overwhelming that [[Arturo Toscanini|Toscanini]], in his house at Riverdale, played this recording again and again to his guests on a memorable day, pointing out with enthusiasm all its fine points ... We can safely say that no one has probed as deeply as Furtwängler into the abyss of the tragic contents and pessimistic forebodings of the ''Pathetique'' ... The last movement would probably have contained a glimmer of hope, had it not been for the fateful events that were to plunge the World into its darkest hours. Many observers have asserted that Furtwängler had foreseen what was to happen", Sami Habra, CD ''Furtwängler "revisited"'', FURT 1099, Tahra, 2005, p. 9.}}
* [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]], ''[[Tristan und Isolde]]'', studio recording with [[Kirsten Flagstad|Flagstad]], [[His Master's Voice (British record label)|His Master's Voice]], June 1952 (EMI, Naxos).{{efn|1="Produced in 1952, this recording, now reissued, has long been something of a landmark in recent history – rightly so, for its importance and its uniqueness are unquestionable ... Wilhelm Furtwängler's architectural greatness is communicated so directly, so forcefully from the very first bar that one immediately forgets the small imperfections of the mono recording ... The most striking thing is certainly the cogency of this interpretation. Nowhere are there hiatuses, breaks in the music's flow. Furtwängler, though far from being a perfectionist in individual detail, invariably seems to see the entire conception before him, so grippingly does he span the work's long arches, so magnificently does he weld together the various components. ... His feeling for form is so compelling in its certainty that one does not stop to consider for a moment that it is not the only way of interpreting a particular phrase or sequence ... The idea of Furtwängler seeking effect from a series of 'purple passages' is unthinkable; and yet the great emotional crescendi, the great climaxes, have a dramatic power scarcely matched elsewhere", Gerhard Brunner, CD ''Tristan und Isolde'', EMI CDS 7 47322 8, p. 20.}}
* Wagner, ''[[Der Ring des Nibelungen]]'', 1950 (live recording from [[La Scala]] in Milan with [[Kirsten Flagstad]])
* Wagner, ''[[Der Ring des Nibelungen]]'' with [[Wolfgang Windgassen]], [[Ludwig Suthaus]], and [[Martha Mödl]], 1953 (EMI) (recorded live in the RAI (Radiotelevisione Italiana) studios).
* Wagner, ''[[Die Walküre]]'', his last recording in 1954. EMI planned to record "Der Ring des Nibelungen" in the studio under Furtwängler, but he only finished this work shortly before his death. The cast includes [[Martha Mödl]] (Brünnhilde), [[Leonie Rysanek]] (Sieglinde), [[Ludwig Suthaus]] (Siegmund), [[Gottlob Frick]] (Hunding), and [[Ferdinand Frantz]] (Wotan).