Wilhelm Conrad Rntgen

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 Furtwängler 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 Furtwängler is still an icon and his work has become an integral part of the 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.

Berliner Philharmoniker Recordings has released, on 22 hybrid SACDs, its Wilhelm Furtwängler edition, the first complete collection of all the surviving radio broadcast recordings of the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Furtwängler during the period 1939 to 1945. From a total of 21 concerts, most complete and some in part, these recordings were originally produced by the Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft (RRG) and are the first high resolution digital transfers from original monaural analogue sources.

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.