Cathy Guerney ([log in to unmask]) wrote:

>Simon Corley ([log in to unmask]) wrote:
>
>>But where is the classical Furtwangler performance with the BPO (DG,
>>May 14th, 1953)?
>
>Is this the disc with the Furtwangler symphony on it as well as the
>Schumann 4th? If so, what's F's piece like?

Well I like it, but I can imagine people not.  It is large, sprawls a bit
and is endebted to Bruckner and perhaps Reger.

Unfortunately, WF hated the studio and this recording is ppossibly his
least successful.  There is a live VPO performance on Orfeo which is much
better.

The Schumann though is sensational.  And there is a story behind it: the
DG engineers were apparently edit-happy and kept stopping him during the
recording sessions.

Finally WF blew his top. He announced that he and the BPO were now going
to play Schumannd 4th symphony.  If the engineers wanted to record it they
were welcome, but there was not going to be any stopping.

Apart from, I have seen it claimed, a couple of very minor edits, this
performance is a single take.

Deryk Barker
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