2nd symphony (Furtwängler)

The Symphony No. 2 in E minor by Wilhelm Furtwängler was written in the 1940s. Furtwängler himself conducted this symphony on numerous occasions at the end of his life.

The work

Furtwängler wrote the Second Symphony during the time in which he was not allowed to conduct, and completed it in 1947. Through the chaos of war in Germany forced at the end of World War II, he was with his wife Elisabeth and the newborn son in Switzerland to Clarens on Relocated to Lake Geneva , where he lived during the last decade of his life.

During the compulsory break as a conductor, Furtwängler was again increasingly active as a composer and in 1947 completed his second symphony in E minor, a huge work of just under an hour and a half. The first performance of the symphony took place on February 22, 1948 with the Berliner Philharmoniker under his own direction. In 1951 the work was recorded by Deutsche Grammophon.

The symphony consists of four movements:

Assai moderato
Andante semplice
Allegro - Moderato - Allegro
Slow - Moderato andante - Allegro molto - Moderato - Slow - Moderato - Presto

The line-up of the orchestra consists of the following instruments:

Piccolo flute
3 flutes
2 oboes
English horn
3 clarinets
2 bassoons
Contrabassoon
4 horns
3 trumpets
3 trumpets
tuba
Timpani
Percussion instruments
Strings

The performance of the symphony is about 82 minutes. In terms of style, like the other works by Furtwängler, it is based on late Romanticism . Furtwängler developed an independent style in it, which is also used in this composition.

Discography

Berlin Philharmonic - Wilhelm Furtwängler, 1951, studio recording. Deutsche Grammophon (DG) 1998
Vienna Philharmonic - Wilhelm Furtwängler, 1953, concert recording. Orfeo International 1994
Philharmonic State Orchestra Hamburg - Wilhelm Furtwängler, 1948, concert recording. Société Wilhelm Furtwängler
Hessian Radio Symphony Orchestra - Wilhelm Furtwängler, 1952, concert recording. Delta Classics
Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart - Wilhelm Furtwängler, 1954, concert recording. Hänssler 2011
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra - Eugen Jochum, 1954, concert recording. BR-Classic 2010
Chicago Symphony Orchestra - Daniel Barenboim. Teldec 2002
BBC Symphony Orchestra - Alfred Walter, 1992, studio recording. Marco Polo 1993
Weimar State Orchestra - George Alexander Albrecht. Arte Nova 2004
Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra - Takashi Asahina, 1984, concert recording. JVC

literature

Oliver Blümel: The second and third symphonies of Wilhelm Furtwängler. Tenea, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-936582-70-X .
Wilhelm Furtwängler Under discussion / catalog raisonné Wilhelm Furtwängler . Amadeus Verlag (Bernhard Päuler), Winterthur, Switzerland, ISBN 3-905049-72-4

Web links

Wilhelm Furtwängler estate directory , p. 7 f. (PDF; 1.43 MB)
Discography at the Furtwängler Society
Recorded on YouTube

Individual evidence

↑ Music: On our own behalf. Furtwängler's second . In: Der Spiegel . No. 9 , 1948, pp. 24 ( Online - Feb. 28, 1948 ).
↑ ^a ^b Wilhelm Furtwängler at Munzinger , accessed on February 18, 2016
^ Wilhelm Furtwängler: Symphony No. 2 in E minor, score: Ries and Erler Musikverlag, ed. Georg von Albrecht ISBN 979-0-01351-148-8

↑ Furtwängler. Brockhaus Riemann Musiklexikon, Schott Musik International, p. 3700 cf. BRM vol. 2, p. 89 ff.

[1] Music: On our own behalf. Furtwängler's second . In: Der Spiegel . No. 9 , 1948, pp. 24 ( Online - Feb. 28, 1948 ).

[Munzinger-2] Wilhelm Furtwängler at Munzinger , accessed on February 18, 2016

[3] Wilhelm Furtwängler: Symphony No. 2 in E minor, score: Ries and Erler Musikverlag, ed. Georg von Albrecht ISBN 979-0-01351-148-8

[4] Furtwängler. Brockhaus Riemann Musiklexikon, Schott Musik International, p. 3700 cf. BRM vol. 2, p. 89 ff.