New CSO CD

[johntpt]

Hi all-

As I'm sure you have noticed, the CSO, along with most American orchestras, has dramatically cut back their recording activity over the past few years. Apparantly listeners no longer buy many classical CDs, since most people already have several sets of Beethoven Symphonies on their shelves, as an example. Ten years ago the CSO recorded 2-3 CDs each year with Solti on London/Decca, 2-3 with Barenboim on Erato, 1-2 with Boulez on DG, and and odd one here and there with other conductors. Back in the late 70s they recorded 10-12 LPs each year with Solti, Barenboim, Giulini, Abbado, Levine, and others. This recording activity has now slowed to a trickle, maybe 2 CDs each year with Barenboim and 1 with Boulez.

So when there is a new CSO recording, I think it's important to send a message to the CD companies that some of us are still interested in recorded music. The best way to send that message is to buy the few CDs that are released.

The CSO's latest CD set contains the Second Symphony of Wilhelm Furtwangler. This massive work requires 2 CDs and is more than 80 minutes long. Furtwangler was one of the giants of conducting in the 20th century. He was music director of the Berlin Philharmonic for many years in the 30s and 40s. He was hired to be the music director of the Chicago Symphony in 1948 (incidentally the same year Adolph Herseth was hired), but withdrew due to the negative reaction of the Chicago public and international artists. Furtwangler was considered a Nazi and America would have nothing to do with him.

Well now the CSO has given the American premiere of Furtwangler's Second Symphony and has released an excellent recording of those concerts from December 2001. This piece is very romantic in the tradition of Brahms, Strauss, and Mahler, and has lots of great brass writing. The CSO brass sound as strong as ever and keep the great Chicago tradition alive. Although this piece is not very well known, this CD set belongs on every trumpeter's shelf.

As a side note, Teldec released this on 2 CDs. In the USA it is priced as 2 full price new CDs and costs more than $30. However in Europe it is priced at the price of 1 CD and costs around half as much. If you won't be visiting Europe anytime soon try ordering it from Amazon.uk or other European CD outlets.

John Urness

[redface]

[johntpt]

Redface-

Sorry for any confusion. I certainly never said that Furtwangler was a Nazi. Most people, including myself, now believe that he was indeed not a Nazi and shared none of the Nazi views. However, shortly after the war he was considered one by many people.

Let me quote from John Ardoin's great book on Furtwangler, "The Furtwangler Record", page 60.

"The next year (1948) came an offer to become director of the Chicago Symphony. He weighed the matter carefully for some time and eventually decided to accept the post. When he signed a contract with the orchestra's board of directors, another violent storm of protest was unleashed. This time it involved a number of prominent artists - Vladimir Horowitz (Toscanini's son-in-law), Arthur Rubinstein, Alexander Brailowsky, Gregor Piatigorsky (Furtwangler's one-time first-chair cellist in the Berlin Philharmonic), Jascha Heifetz, Nathan Milstein, Isaac Stern, and Lily Pons and her husband, Andre Kostelanetz. All threatened never again to appear with the Chicago Symphony if Furtwangler was engaged.

Rubenstein sent the orchestra this telegram:

'I will not collaborate, musically or otherwise, with anyone who collaborated with Hitler, Goering, and Goebbels. Had Furtwangler been firm in his democratic convictions he would have left Germany.'"

Public perception and Furtwangler's private thoughts were 2 different things, but in the years after the fall of the 3rd Reich it was not always easy to see who was a Nazi at heart and who wasn't.

The recent movie "Taking Sides" featuring Harvey Keitel and Stellan Skarsgard does an excellent job of showing what Maestro Furtwangler went through in the De-Nazification process after the war.

John Urness