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Well, I just got Wilhelm Furtwangler's 1940s Berlin recordings of the Beethoven symphonies. They're so slow, so rich, so dramatic, and have so much personality that I can't help feeling like I'm watching an early Disney film. I hate to say it, but they sound somehow cartoonish.
But I got them because I read that somehow, melodically, they carry some kind of hidden anti-Nazi message. I'm not hearing it. Can a musical performance somehow be anti-fascist? Or did I get it wrong, and this is what SS members listened to while driving around scalping Jews?
But I got them because I read that somehow, melodically, they carry some kind of hidden anti-Nazi message. I'm not hearing it. Can a musical performance somehow be anti-fascist? Or did I get it wrong, and this is what SS members listened to while driving around scalping Jews?
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Re: Furtwangler war recordings
Tue, November 3, 2009 - 7:59 PMHmmmm
The Beethoven ninth from 1942 (Lucerne Festival) is hair raising - not cartoonish at all (not sure what you mean by that). I just wish the sound was better. -
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Re: Furtwangler war recordings
Wed, November 4, 2009 - 11:53 AMHave you heard this recording Robert? Perhaps better quality than what you've got ... ?
operachic.typepad.com/opera_c...e_4.html -
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Re: Furtwangler war recordings
Wed, November 4, 2009 - 3:06 PMAh... THIS is the recording I was referring to! and, yes, the sound is better than the 1942, but certainly not what RCA was doing for Reiner in Chicago.
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