Wilhelm Furtwängler: Symphony No. 2 in E Minor (Chandos)
★★☆☆☆
What’s this file doing on my deck? I’ve listened to Furtwängler’s personal recordings of his overlong second symphony, and have heard it carried out stay by Daniel Barenboim with the Berlin Philharmonic with out strolling out. The work spends three-quarters of an hour going nowhere.
Furtwängler composed it in Switzerland after fleeing Berlin in January 1945, abandoning his musicians to a determined destiny. The work propounds motifs of destiny and future beloved of German composers from Schumann to Strauss, alternating huge ffffs and church-organ simulations, all of the methods of the orchestral commerce. There are some tender woodwind strands within the third motion.
What the symphony lacks is a compelling cause for existence. Aside from exhibiting that he can imitate Brahms, Bruckner (particularly), Mahler, and Tchaikovsky at will, Furtwängler has nothing to say of any readability or profundity at one of the dire moments in European historical past. But he was by some means unable to remain silent within the face of his personal inarticulacy.
So why am I listening to the second symphony over again? As a result of Furtwängler is a determine of limitless fascination to conductor buffs. Few have ever matched his capability to mould an orchestra to his imaginative and prescient, or his brilliance at fulfilling the exact textual content of a rating whereas making it sound completely completely different from everybody else. How did he try this? Furtwängler was a conductor of genius. He imagined he was a composer, amongst different human flaws.
I can admire the massive construction of the work and the circulation from one theme to the following. I’m additionally intrigued by the odd line, right here and there. However the entire is a muddle with out a lot that means. The Estonian Nationwide Symphony is a formidable ensemble and conductor Neeme Järvi has a excessive outdated time pretending he’s Furtwängler on a pair of picket skis, hurtling to an indeterminate end. I doubt I’ll deliver myself to hear once more.
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Norman Lebrecht is likely one of the most widely-read commentators on music, tradition and cultural politics. He’s a daily presenter on BBC Radio 3 and a contributor to the Wall Avenue Journal, Bloomberg, Standpoint, Sinfini and different publications. His weblog, Slipped Disc, is among the many most generally learn cultural websites on-line, breaking unique tales and campaigning in opposition to human abuse and acts of injustice within the cultural industries.