Furtwangler

Conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler already enjoyed a worldwide legendary standing during his lifetime - he was considered the German conductor and performances were greeted with rapturous applause. Today, more than 50 years after his death, Wilhelm Furtwangler is still an icon and his work has become an integral part ofthe music scene.

Conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler already enjoyed a worldwide legendary standing during his lifetime - he was considered the German conductor and performances were greeted with rapturous applause. Today, more than 50 years after his death, Wilhelm Furtwangler is still an icon and his work has become an integral part ofthe music scene.

Conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler already enjoyed a worldwide legendary standing during his lifetime - he was considered the German conductor and performances were greeted with rapturous applause. Today, more than 50 years after his death, Wilhelm Furtwangler is still an icon and his work has become an integral part ofthe music scene. But just what makes up this fascination? And what makes his recordings so special? This edition provides the answers.

These recordings were made in wartorn Berlin by one of the past century's greatest conductors, Wilhelm Furtwangler, who was one of very few international caliber artists who remained in Germany during WWII. Combine Furtwangler's passionate conducting with the sad context of war and you've got an utmost interesting and pertinent package.

Recorded in 1951, this recording features Wilhelm Furtwängler leading the Wiener Philharmoniker in one of the most infamous readings of Bruckner's Symphony No.4. The legendary maestro is also joined by the Berlin Philharmonic for the Good Friday Music from Wagner's Parsifal.

The radio recordings between 1939 and 1945 with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Wilhelm Furtwängler are among classical music’s most compelling sound documents. Created at the peak of the collaboration between orchestra and conductor, Furtwängler’s artist personality is conveyed more vividly than anywhere else. What can be heard is music in which inspiration and the expressive will know no bounds and in which, not least, the existential experience of the Second World War reverberates. For the first time, the Berliner Philharmoniker are releasing a complete edition of these recordings on 22 CD/SACD.