Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827) MUSIC & ARTS CD-790
Symphony No.9 in D minor, Op.125
"Choral"Elisabeth Schwarzkopf soprano
Elsa Cavelti contralto
Ernst Häfliger tenor
Otto Edelmann baritoneLucerne Festival Choir · Philharmonia Orchestra
conducted by WILHELM FURTWÄNGLER
[75:06] full-priceFurtwängler's last performance of the work on 22 August 1954 in Lucerne.
No translation of text. Mono, 'live' recording.by Derek Lim
Although Furtwängler recorded most of the other Beethoven symphonies in studio recordings with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in the late 1940s and early 1950s (with one notable exception – the Second), he never did record the Ninth in the studio, perhaps because he felt that this work needed and thrived on having an audience (the Millionen in the Ode?).
Several extant performances exist, notably the 1942 performance in Berlin, a performance of terrifying passion and intensity; the 1953 performance at the re-opening of the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, a great event but one where the performance did not quite fulfill Furtwängler’s own lofty standards; but the performance which has impressed me and many others is the 1954 performance in Lucerne, otherwise known as the "Lucerne Ninth".
A dangerous half-truth about Furtwängler, it is said, was that no two performances by him were the same. In the core repertoire, it was Brahms and Beethoven, and Wagner he excelled in; in Brahms he developed his own idiom with his flexibility in tempi, improvisation of rubato, tempo fluctuations, dynamics and other details. His knowledge of Beethoven was probably one of the most complete ever; as a youth he carried a pocket score of the complete quartets and could play from memory any section of any movement of any quartet.
In comparing his Beethoven performances, including those of the Ninth, I think it is then possible to say that they were all essentially of the same mould; a unique and powerfully wrought mould, no less, but still cut from the same piece of cloth. Details in the occasion, orchestra, soloists and audience would affect the intensity of a particular performance, but still there is a remarkable consistency of performance.
And so it is with the 1954 Ninth, Furtwängler's last performance of the work. Banished is the angst, sheer terror and apocalyptic vision of the 1942 Ninth, gone are the harsh accents, freneticism and anger of the years of war. Which is not to say that Furtwängler's overall vision of the work had altered; it is still his own unique interpretation, but where there was despair and uncertaincy in the air in 1942 there now is an air of complete assuredness in Furtwängler's interpretation of the Ninth.
His peformance is at once instinctive and improvisatory, as if he were traversing familiar territory, but finding new beautiful things at the same time. There are too many trademarks, or shall we say conducting footprints, for me to name them all, but for me I find there is, as someone also described of Jascha Horenstein, "an ebb and a trickle", an inexorable sense of steering through a river, taking on turns and valleys (and finally leading into the estuary), a metaphor which Furtwängler used himself.
His peformance of the third movement for example, is one of the slowest, together with Bernstein; but there is never a feeling that it falls into a state of stasis. The music is continually changing, evolving, and in constant motion. So it is with the first and second movement.
In the choral finale, I've never been convinced that the words and music were in total marriage. I think, in fact that Beethoven used Schiller's Ode to Joy as a means by which he could add a choir. Furtwängler had probably performed this at least a hundred times, and if this occasion didn't show him at his most overtly dramtic, that is a small price to pay for this more involved, more Beethovenian, Olympian account, where (despite my comments) Elysian peace permeates every phrase and lives in every note.
I can't agree with people who say that Furtwängler knew that he was going to die soon and that thus this Ninth is valedictory; it is none of the sort; it is for me, one of the definitive Ninths (though Furtwängler himself would have disliked the term), and the reason why it is the best of Furtwängler's accounts is simply because he was simply at his peak and rising when he passed away. By 1954 he was happier than ever and had overcome the devils and memories of the Second World War, and this account of the Ninth shows it.
The soloists - Edelmann (a little strained at this time, but still heroic), Häfliger (one of my favourite tenor voices), Calvelti, and Schwarzkopf - are fantastic, and they handle Beethoven's cruel high notes with no difficulty. The choir isn't that good, certainly not as good as the awesome Bruno Kittel Choir, which features in the other CD I show you below, but still it shouldn't deter you. The orchestral playing is superb - in the third movement the horn solo might have been played by Dennis Brain himself. The sound on this CD is very good, and not at all constricted, or boxy.
If you are interested in the Ninth at all, or you have found the Ninth puzzling in any performance of it, try this "live" peformance; it just might convert you to Beethoven's greatest, most humane, most satisfying symphony, and Furtwängler.
(Note: Another pressing of this performance that is supposed to be better is on Tahra 1003. I haven't heard this CD, but Tahra does consistently give very good remasterings, so if you can't find the Music & Arts disc, just get the Tahra.
Catalog number and details for the 1942 wartime Ninth: CD-653(1), with Tilla Briem (soprano), Elisabeth Höngen (contralto), Peter Anders (tenor), Rudolf Watzke (bass). Bruno Kittel Choir, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Furtwängler).
Portrait of Furtwängler from this Furtwängler Website.
Derek Lim really hates having to think up of bylines....
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571: 10.8.1999 ©Derek Lim
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