Pristine release: Furtwängler's 1942 Berlin Beethoven 9th, our 250th orchestral issue
Andrew Rose
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9 "Choral"
Pristine Audio PASC 250
http://www.pristineclassical.com/LargeWorks/Orchestral/PASC250.php
Tilla Briem, soprano
Elisabeth Höngen, alto
Peter Anders, tenor
Rudolf Watzke, bass
Bruno Kittel Choir
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler
Recorded Berlin, 1942
XR remastering by Andrew Rose at Pristine Audio, September-October 2010
Cover artwork based on a photograph of Furtwängler
Total duration: 73:02
©2010 Pristine Audio.
Notes on the transfer from our website:
The history of this recording is well known and takes us deep into one
of the darkest eras of human history: Nazi Germany, the performances
around the celebration of Hitler's birthday in March 1942, and a
conductor who some saw as a collaborator, others an a naive tool of the
regime, others still as someone who chose to oppose from within rather
than leave Germany like so many other top-ranking musicians. The wider
subject is covered in some depth in the further notes which accompany
this release, and of course in much greater depth elsewhere.
It is pertinent to mention here, however, that many have come to see
Furtwängler's Beethoven 9th Symphony of March 1942 as a kind of protest
against Hitler and his henchmen, present for at least one of the
performances that week. It has been hailed as one of the greatest and
most powerful renditions of this momentous work ever captured by the
miracle of recorded sound, as multiple five-star reviews on sites such
as Amazon.com testify. Naturally it has seen numerous releases on
different labels.
Each previous issue has, no doubt, attempted to deal with the rather
poor quality of the original recording in one way or another, so why
come back to in for another go? Well partly this has been due to
requests received from those desperate for someone to crack the major
sonic shortcomings of the recording, in the hope that XR remastering
might achieve something where previous efforts have failed, and partly
(as is often the case) through sheer curiosity on my part. I had been
working on another performance by Furtwángler of the same work, and
while I had the various elements of an XR restoration to hand curiosity
got the better of me and I experimented with the 1942 Choral Symphony.
The results you'll hear in our lengthy sample on this page, comprising
the full first movement. Despite some occasional fuzziness caused by
peak distortion (much of which I've been able to tame considerably)
during the loudest passages, the transformation has been exceptional,
allowing the full power and impact of Furtwängler's vision to be
experienced as perhaps never before (unless you had the "luck" to be in
the hall at the time). Background hiss and noise has been reduced to
near-silence, a number of audience coughs have been removed, and XR
remastering has brought a fullness and depth of sound, matched by a new
openness and clarity lacking in all previous issues.
Experience now one of the most powerful and charged music performances
you'll ever hear - in a whole new sonic light.
Andrew Rose
First movement MP3: http://tinyurl.com/PASC250
--
Andrew Rose
Pristine Classical: "The destination for people interested in historic
recordings..." (Gramophone)
Abbeddrose Bierce
<and...@pristineaudio.com> wrote:
>New release today - our 250th orchestral issue:
>
>BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9 "Choral"
>Pristine Audio PASC 250
>
>
>http://www.pristineclassical.com/LargeWorks/Orchestral/PASC250.php
Good
The most dishonest transfers on the planet for the most dishonest
Musician who ever walked this planet
Made for each other
Abbedd
Bob Harper
> On Fri, 08 Oct 2010 16:35:48 +0200, Andrew Rose
> <and...@pristineaudio.com> wrote:
>
>> New release today - our 250th orchestral issue:
>>
>> BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9 "Choral"
>> Pristine Audio PASC 250
>>
>>
>> http://www.pristineclassical.com/LargeWorks/Orchestral/PASC250.php
>
> Good
>
> The most dishonest transfers on the planet
No, that's your stuff.
for the most dishonest
> Musician who ever walked this planet
Nonsense.
>
> Made for each other
Certainly Andrew has got more out of this recording than anyone else.
Some find it impossible to listen to this performance owing to the
circumstances surrounding it. I respect that position, but disagree. I
think it's pretty clear now that this performance was more a protest
than a paean of praise.
Bob Harper
>
> Abbedd
>>
>>
(snip)
Abbeddrose Bierce
<bob.h...@comcast.net> wrote:
>> The most dishonest transfers on the planet
>
>No, that's your stuff.
So says the layman to the world's authority on Musical sound*.
It appears that Musical sound is beyond the scope of understanding of
Harper as is El Shadai
I see some pompousness here
Harper, stop being so foolish. You have three Gods to pray to. Could
life be so bad?
Abbedd
* Based upon accomplishments in the real world
Norman Schwartz
"Bob Harper" <bob.h...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:fFGro.263063$De6.2...@en-nntp-01.dc1.easynews.com...
Bob Harper
>>
>> Abbedd
>>>
>>>
> (snip)
Gay Dave the Prison Guard
> ...sonic light.
says it all, really.
Dave.
Gay Dave the Prison Guard
rje
The "Hitler's Birthday" Beethoven 9th concert was April 19, 1942 and
the singers for that performance were Erna Berger, Gertrude Pitzinger,
Helge Rosvaenge and Rudolf Watzke.
Ray
rje
The "Hitler's Birthday" Beethoven 9th performance was on April 19,
1942 with Erna Berger, Gertrude Pitzinger, Helge Rosvaenge, and Rudolf
Watzke.
Ray
Matthew B. Tepper
letters to be typed in news:fFGro.263063$De6.253934@en-nntp-
01.dc1.easynews.com:
> Certainly Andrew has got more out of this recording than anyone else.
> Some find it impossible to listen to this performance owing to the
> circumstances surrounding it. I respect that position, but disagree. I
> think it's pretty clear now that this performance was more a protest
> than a paean of praise.
If it was a protest, it was an entirely useless and futile one and a wasted
effort. If the hall had been obliterated by an Allied bombing raid during
that performance, killing everyone present, the deaths of Furtwängler and the
entire Berliner Philharmoniker would have been, comparitively speaking, a
tolerable loss. That is, in my opinion, of course.
(And yes, I did see "Inglourious Basterds," and enjoyed it very much.)
--
Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks!
Read about "Proty" here: http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/proty.html
To write to me, do for my address what Androcles did for the lion
Opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of my employers
Roger Kulp
very performance out there as a Japanese issue somehere?
Roger
wkasimer
> Don't want to search through discographies right now,but isn't this
> very performance out there as a Japanese issue somehere?
Yes, on Opus Kura:
Bill
You Rascal You
> Bob Harper <bob.har...@comcast.net> appears to have caused the following
> letters to be typed innews:fFGro.263063$De6.253934@en-nntp-
> 01.dc1.easynews.com:
>
> > Certainly Andrew has got more out of this recording than anyone else.
> > Some find it impossible to listen to this performance owing to the
> > circumstances surrounding it. I respect that position, but disagree. I
> > think it's pretty clear now that this performance was more a protest
> > than a paean of praise.
>
> If it was a protest, it was an entirely useless and futile one and a wasted
> effort.
I wish people could release cds and write about music without feeling
the need to talk a lot of balls and burnish their political
correctness. The idea is not that WF decided to have a concert for
Hitler and conduct a really mean performance to put Adolf in his
place.
Frankly I find Andrew Rose's words above fucking idiotic. Has anybody
suggested that Furtwangler conducted this symphony as a 'paean of
praise' for Hitler? Regardless of political affiliation, WF had
sufficient understanding of and respect for Beethoven's work that the
notion that he could see it as praise for Hitler is preposterous.
Why can't people stop bringing this bullshit up and making it worse
every time? WF stayed in his homeland during the war. Plenty of people
did. There's no obligation to emigrate when your country becomes an
oppressive dictatorship. As an eminent conductor he continued to work,
bringing music to audiences, until he was warned that he was in danger
for having stood up to the authorities once too often, and left, to
Switzerland IIRC.
Give us all a break and quit farting pointlessly about apolitical
musicians who found themselves in circumstances you can't even
imagine, and risked their lives for their beliefs. Do something about
the political criminals in your countries today.
Andrew Rose
> On Oct 8, 9:38 pm, "Matthew B. Tepper"<oy兀earthlink.net> wrote:
>> Bob Harper<bob.har...@comcast.net> appears to have caused the following
>> letters to be typed innews:fFGro.263063$De6.253934@en-nntp-
>> 01.dc1.easynews.com:
>>
>>> Certainly Andrew has got more out of this recording than anyone else.
>>> Some find it impossible to listen to this performance owing to the
>>> circumstances surrounding it. I respect that position, but disagree. I
>>> think it's pretty clear now that this performance was more a protest
>>> than a paean of praise.
>>
>> If it was a protest, it was an entirely useless and futile one and a wasted
>> effort.
>
>
> I wish people could release cds and write about music without feeling
> the need to talk a lot of balls and burnish their political
> correctness. The idea is not that WF decided to have a concert for
> Hitler and conduct a really mean performance to put Adolf in his
> place.
>
> Frankly I find Andrew Rose's words above fucking idiotic.
If you'd actually bothered to read them, you'd realise that my words
were entirely the opposite of what you are suggesting I wrote - this is
from the front page of our website:
"...the conductor vented feelings through music he was forbidden to
state in words..."
I have long understood the performance to be a kind of protest against
the regime rather than something special laid on for it - but that's my
own interpretation, and one I am comfortable with. I suggest that far
from my words and thoughts being "fucking idiotic" they are precisely
the same as your own.
What is "fucking idiotic" is your ridiculous reaction.
Gerard
>
> I have long understood the performance to be a kind of protest against
> the regime rather than something special laid on for it - but that's
> my own interpretation, and one I am comfortable with.
Do you have any base for this interpretation?
