BaL 5.10.24 - Brahms: Symphony 1

[oliver sudden]

'Edge-of-seat excitement' reminds me of the surviving fourth movement from a 1945 Furtwangler performance given inthe Adriralsplatz , his last concert in Germany until May 1947. The Red Army was approaching, Monty and Ike were crossing the Rhine, so it's not surprising it was an intense occasion.

Similarly fraught must have been his last wartime concert of all, Brahms 2 in Vienna, after which he fled into Switzerland to evade impending Gestapo arrest…

[Petrushka]

Similarly fraught must have been his last wartime concert of all, Brahms 2 in Vienna, after which he fled into Switzerland to evade impending Gestapo arrest…

That concert took place on January 28 1945 so I'd be interested in knowing the date of the Brahms 1 last movement mentioned by smittims. The Brahms 2 performance from 1945 was preceded by the Franck Symphony in D Minor and both are available on CD. I'm not aware of any further concerts conducted by Furtwangler in the Third Reich after this as he had, as you say, fled to Switzerland.

For context, the Red Army liberated Auschwitz the day before the Vienna concert and the Western Allies did not cross the Rhine until March 1945.

[gurnemanz]

For many years my "go to" LP versions of Brahms Symphonies were Kurt Sanderling/Dresden Staatskapelle (1972). I think my first CD version was via a 1991 DG Twofer on their 2CD Concert Classics series. It includes the Karl Böhm/BPO 1st Symphony from 1960, which I have just listened to again with great enjoyment for the first time for a while

[smittims]

Yes, well, I wasn't there at the time, as Otto Klemperer said when Furtwangler asked him to verify that he (F) hadn't been a Nazi. The Admiralspalast (I've corrected my eariler post) concert was 23 January. According to John Ardoin (The Furtwangler record) ' It stands not only as the most exacting, extraordinary performance of a piece of symphonic music by Brahms, but one of the most thrilling orchestral recordings in existence.'

Well, if you're a Toscanini fan you can disagree with that; but for me, the most fascinating aspect of Furtwangler's interpretation is the middle section , from bar 220 (letter K in the Breitkopf score) to 300, including a massive rallentando at the end . He does this in all his recordings, though not always to the same effect. This, I think, is one of those moments that separates Furtwangler from other conductors; if you're in the mood, it can explain why some of us go on and on about this chap.
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[Petrushka]

Yes, well, I wasn't there at the time, as Otto Klemperer said when Furtwangler asked him to verify that he (F) hadn't been a Nazi. The Admiralspalast (I've corrected my eariler post) concert was 23 January. According to John Ardoin (The Furtwangler record) ' It stands not only as the most exacting, extraordinary performance of a piece of symphonic music by Brahms, but one of the most thrilling orchestral recordings in existence.'

Thanks for clarification of the date. I couldn't find any mention of it in the several books I have of Furtwangler though that doesn't mean it's not there. Typically, I don't have the Ardoin book.