Furtwängler Symphony 2/Barenboim

[tuatara442442]

Whatever, the Furtwanglerians are totally out of their mind (whether or not for financial incentives) to present his early piano works to the public. And not for only once.

[John Boyer]

Part of some vast Furtwänglerarian conspiracy, perhaps?  Not just mad -- diabolical!

[Alan Howe]

On the whole I believe Ilja is right. But this thread is about Barenboim's recording of the Second Symphony which I think is something of a tour-de-force. Sometimes a particular performance is actually better than the work itself...

[John Boyer]

It wouldn't be the first time that a first class performance made a second class musical or theatrical work seem much better than it really is, a testament to Barenboim at his best.

[eschiss1]

I keep hearing that (not just in reference to this piece and this performance, to be clear) but can only imagine a few things it could mean, including it being a performance of a different and better work entirely, which is not what happened. I think what happened was that he brought out everything that -was- in the work, and may it be that all our (and others') potentially-good works receive such committed, rather than just so-so, performances...

[Ilja]

That -last- argument I have to call bs on- it's like saying that, similarly, because there is absolutely no hint of talent (and there isn't) in Lovecraft's earliest sketches (reproduced and typeset very faithfully with the original errors in the Delphi edition of his works) that he, in turn, had no talent at all.

Here, however, I'd argue that writing is fundamentally different from composing in that it's the ultimate intellectual art. There is no sensory element (apart from typography perhaps), everything is created through our frontal cortex. Craft is simply far more crucial, and craft can be trained. In music, on the other hand, there's a central sensory element (like in painting, for instance) that determines our experience. The earliest Beethoven is still uncouth and rough, but it does already show us what was (or could be) in store. Even more exceptionally, Saint-Saëns' Trois Morceaux is already a masterwork without the maturity of age.

In the case of Barenboim's Furtwängler Second, I agree that the sum here makes up more than its parts and transcends the original composition. Let's remember Barenboim by this and not the errors of judgment made in his waning years.

[eschiss1]

You make good points though whether craft is more crucial with writing or music- I would have chosen the latter, offhand, but maybe my understanding of the word itself is broader (and includes all those uses of all one's various means for translating idea to papyrus, in both...)