Furtwängler Symphony No.1

[Alan Howe]

I assume this is good news...
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/wilhelm-furtwaengler-symphonie-nr-1/hnum/10515709

Shame no-one can bring themselves to record Berger 2!

[Gareth Vaughan]

There are much better symphonies than this remaining unrecorded - Berger's No. 2 being one of them.

[Alan Howe]

Quite so. Symphonies by Zellner, Abert, Reuss, Scholz, Thieriot and Grimm come to mind...

[Alan Howe]

I don't know, sorry. Can't imagine needing to supplement Barenboim's splendiferous recording of No.2 anyway.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Quite. No. 2 is far and away Furtwangler's best symphony.  I really don't think the others are in the same league.

[Ilja]

I honestly like the First Symphony; the finale is just glorious. However, the fact that cpo needs two CDs for it doesn't exactly bode well. Particularly the first movement could always use a more vigorous approach than the Albrecht recording submitted it to.

[eschiss1]

I won't turn my nose down at new recordings of 1 & 3, though, since they were only published very recently, unlike no.2 which was given its first publication not that long after... and so may be for a long time yet rather more expensive to consider performing, recording, etc. Agreed about good recordings of no.2, of course; performed well it's a really exciting piece. (I found this true of the Teldec recording, anyway.)

[Justin]

I don't know, sorry. Can't imagine needing to supplement Barenboim's splendiferous recording of No.2 anyway.

Thank you for the word of the day, Alan.

[Alan Howe]

Don't mention it. Had to check the spelling, though, so only 6 out of 10.

[Rainolf]

Yes, it would be great to have a CD recording of Berger's 2nd (and of his 1st, and of some great chamber music pieces of this fine composer, too), as it would be to record the symphonies of the other mentioned composers, too.

But:
To compare a symphony by Furtwängler with symphonies by Zellner, Abert, Reuss, Scholz, Thieriot, Grimm, and even by Berger is as meaningful as if you would compare a Schumann symphony with a Mahler symphony, or a Mozart symphony with a Mendelssohn symphony. The style is so totally different that a decision to the benefit of the one work or the other only says something about your personal stylistic preferences and not about the quality of the piece.

I cannot understand this frustrated reaction againt the announcement of the recording of a work that never found the way on CD in a really good performance. Furtwängler's Second and Third Symphonies are in my opinion great, faultless masterpieces. The first may not be as perfect as its successors, but it is full of great ideas and has the long breath of a true symphonist. To span such an architecture as its first movement is an achievent that deserved to be recognised. Neither Walter nor Albrecht revealed the full potential of Furtwängler's First in their performances, and, as I can see, the Second remains the only Furtwängler Symphony that is represented in good performances on CD, thanks to the composer himself, to Asahina and to Barenboim.

So I hope that with the new cpo recording the First will get a performance appropriate to its musical worth.

[Alan Howe]

To compare a symphony by Furtwängler with symphonies by Zellner, Abert, Reuss, Scholz, Thieriot, Grimm, and even by Berger is as meaningful as if you would compare a Schumann symphony with a Mahler symphony, or a Mozart symphony with a Mendelssohn symphony. The style is so totally different that a decision to the benefit of the one work or the other only says something about your personal stylistic preferences and not about the quality of the piece.

The mention of these other symphonists was nothing to do with style, but rather with the frustration members of this forum feel when certain symphonies are re-recorded and others, some of them more worthy of consideration, left unrecorded. Frankly, to record Furtwängler 1 again when a masterpiece of the stature of Berger 2 has never been commercially recorded is something of a scandal.

[Gareth Vaughan]

I must support Alan here.  We are not comparing Furtwangler's 1st symphony with those of other composers writing in different styles. It is simply that the symphonies of these other composers are, IMHO, more worthy of performance and recording than Furtwangler's No. 1, which I feel is an undistinguished work in its own right, NOT by comparison with these others.

[Ilja]

Frankly, I'm getting a bit irked by the perennial "But the Berger 2nd"-like responses to new recordings, since I think we're confusing the need felt by some on the forum for a new recording of that work to the "worthiness" of other works to receive renewed attention themselves. I feel that they're really two very different things, and we do well to keep them separate. Also, it seems to me that judging musical works on their own merit is what this forum is meant for (and yes, "worthiness for recording" is also a comparison metric).

[Gareth Vaughan]

I should perhaps emphasise that my opinion of Furtwangler's No. 1 is entirely personal and I would not want to prevent others who might have a different view from the opportunity to enjoy it. Nor, indeed, others from the chance to hear it and form their own opinion.

[Alan Howe]

I echo Gareth's post.

However, I reserve the (personal) right to lament the record companies' tendency to re-record certain repertoire when so much remains unrecorded. In the case of the cpo recording of F1, which I have already ordered, I look forward (I think) to making close comparisons with the existing Arte Nova release to see whether the new performance represents any sort of worthwhile improvement. (The Arte Nova recording now appears to be unavailable, however.)

I also reserve the (personal) right to opine that F1 is an overblown (83 min.), unoriginal leviathan.