Symphony No. 9 (vinyl)

FURTWAENGLER SCHWARZKOPF CAVELTI HAEFLIGER EDELMANN PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA LUCERNE FESTIVAL CHOIR

Extraordinary artists in extraordinary recordings on an extraordinary format: these are the criteria for audite’s LP releases. Hot off the press is Furtwängler’s last performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, now available on premium 180g vinyl (DMM). Wilhelm Furtwängler (1886-1954) was one of the defining artists of what is today’s Lucerne Festival. He was instrumental in establishing this artistic gathering as one of the then small number of great festivals. In 1944, he came to Lucerne for the first time to conduct two concerts; from 1947 until his death he came to Lucerne each summer but one, where he enjoyed a special status. In August 1954, three months before his death, he directed his last performance, in Lucerne and of the Ninth, which proved to be an “elemental musical event” (Neue Zürcher Zeitung), alongside the brilliant Philharmonia Orchestra and a stellar cast of soloists (Schwarzkopf, Cavelti, Haefliger, Edelmann). Furtwängler accentuates the visionary character of this monumental score: he charges the outer movements with an almost unbearable sense of suspense and interprets the lyrical passages, especially the slow third movement, cantabile and in flexible tempi.

Price: $57.98