Classic Arts
Homepage Current programmes Ongoing Programmes Archive programmes Our production team About Classic Arts Useful website links Contact Us

Archive programmes

backThe Furtwängler Legacy
 presented by Rob Cowan

BBC Radio 3, 30th November 2004, 17.30 – 24.00

An evening devoted to the life and work of the legendary German conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler (25/1/1886 – 30/11/1954)

Wilhelm FurtwanglerWilhelm Furtwängler – regarded by many as the greatest conductor of all time – died at his home in Baden-Baden exactly 50 years ago, on 30 November 1954. He worked with the world’s greatest orchestras, particularly the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonics, and the Philharmonia, and many of his interpretations have been preserved on disc. Revered by audiences and his fellow-musicians, his career was nevertheless touched by controversy, particularly his role in Nazi-administered Germany.

During the course of the evening, Rob Cowan and his studio guests, Richard Osborne and Cambridge historian Dr Richard Evans, attempted to discover the man behind the austere public mask, and evaluate the elements which made him unique as a conductor.

There were contributions also from musicians who worked with him, including former members of the Berlin Philharmonic and the Philharmonia, and singers such as Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Dietrich Fiescher-Dieskau; younger conductors - Daniel Barenboim and Christian Thielemann - who have been influenced by him; and a rare interview with Furtwangler’s widow Elisabeth, who still lives in Switzerland.

19.30

Brahms: Symphony No.3 in F, Op.90 (opening of 1st mvt)
Berlin PO/Wilhelm Furtwängler (live recording from the Titania-Palast, Berlin, 8 December, 1949)
EMI CHS 565513 2
19.32 Introduction from Rob Cowan and his studio guests, Richard Osborne and Richard Evans.
19.35

Wagner: Siegfried’s Funeral Music (from Götterdämmerung)
Berlin PO/Wilhelm Furtwängler (live recording from the Titania-Palast, Berlin, 19 December, 1949)
DG 415 663-2
19.44 Rob Cowan gives a brief resume of Furtwängler’s origins, and the background to his musical style.
19.50 Furtwängler was much influenced by the analytical theories of Heinrich Schenker. The musical analyst Dr Eric Wen discusses his obsession with Schenker, with musical illustrations from the Air from Bach’s Third Suite.
20.00

Mozart: Symphony in G minor, K.550 (1st mvt – Molto allegro)
Vienna PO/Wilhelm Furtwängler
(studio recording from the Musikvereinsaal, Vienna, 7-8 December, 1948 + 17 February, 1949)
EMI CDM 763193 2
20.07 Rob Cowan and Richard Osborne discuss aspects of Furtwängler’s work in the recording studio, and the differences between his studio recordings and live performances, as preserved on disc.
20.22

Schumann: Symphony No.4 in D minor, Op.120 (mvts 3-4)
Berlin PO/Wilhelm Furtwängler
(studio recording from the Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin, 14 May, 1953)
DG 457 722-2
20.40

Orchestral musicians who worked with Furtwängler - the violinist Hanns-Joachim Westphal and timpanist Werner Thärichen (former players with the Berlin Philharmonic), and Philharmonia principal flautist Gareth Morris and cor anglais player John Cruft from the LPO – recall their experiences.
21.04

Weber: Overture – Der Freischütz
Berlin PO/Wilhelm Furtwängler
(live recording from the Staatsoper, Berlin, 21 March, 1944)
DG 427 781-2
21.15 Furtwängler was noted as a fine conductor of opera, and an enthusiastic Lieder partner. Rob Cowan and Richard Osborne discuss his empathy with vocal music.
21.22

Singers who worked with Furtwängler – particularly Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf - remember him. To include excerpts from the 1954 Salzburg Festioval performance of Mozart’s Don Giovanni with Schwarzkopf as Donna Elvira; a Wolf song recorded at Salzburg in 1953 by Schwarzkopf with Furtwängler at the piano;

Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde recorded in London 1952 with Fischer-Dieskau as Kurwenal.
21.50

Wagner: Narrative and Isolde’s curse (from Tristan und Isolde, Act I, Scene 3)
Kirsten Flagstad (Isolde)/Blanche Thebom (Brangäne)/Philharmonia Orchestra/Wilhelm Furtwängler
(studio recording from the Kingsway Hall, London, 10-22 June, 1952)
EMI CDS 747311 8
22.01

Furtwängler is mainly remembered for his titanic performances of the mainstream classical and romantic German repertoire, but less so for his work in the baroque and 20th-century fields.

Rob Cowan and Richard Osborne discuss his attitude to earlier and later music.

22.09

Hindemith: Turandot Scherzo (from Symphonic Metamorphoses on themes of Weber)
Berlin PO/Wilhelm Furtwängler
(live recording from the Titania-Palast, Berlin, 16 September, 1947)
DG 474 030-2
22.21 The Man behind the Mask – Rob Cowan talks to Furtwängler’s widow Elizabeth, with reminiscences from other close colleagues.
22.36

Furtwängler is above all revered as a Beethoven interpreter. He conducted the Ninth Symphony for the last time at the 1954 Lucerne festival.

Beethoven: Symphony No.9 (finale) 25.34 + applause

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf(soprano)/Elsa Calveti (mezzo)/Ernst Haefliger (tenor)/Otto Edelmann

(bass)/ Lucerne Festival Chorus/Philharmonia Orchestra/Wilhelm Furtwängler

(live, Kunsthaus, Lucerne, 22 August, 1954)

Hunt CDLSMH 34006
23.06 Furtwängler and politics. Like Richard Strauss, Furtwängler chose to stay and work in Nazi Germany– a decision which marred his subsequent post-war reputation. Rob Cowan, Tully Potter, Michael Tanner and Richard Evans discuss the vexed question of the extent of his collusion with the regime.
23.15 The Legacy. Rob Cowan, his studio guests, Tully Potter, Michael Tanner, Christian Thielemann and Daniel Barenboim discuss Furtwängler’s legacy as conductor, musician and composer.
23.35

Furtwängler: Symphony No.2 (1st mvt – Assai moderato)
Chicago SO/Daniel Barenboim
(live, Orchestra Hall, Chicago, 12-15 December, 2001)
Teldec 0927 43495 2

back