Wilhelm Furtwängler is one of the great conductors of the 20th century, a towering point of reference for performers and audiences. The unparalleled scope of this 55-CD set makes it an essential for the music-lover. Not only is it the first collection to unite Furtwängler’s entire catalogue of studio recordings, it also encompasses every live recording he made with a view to commercial release. Each recording has been scrupulously remastered in high definition. Covering the period from 1926-1954, it contains five world-premiere releases, all recorded with the Wiener Philharmoniker in 1950. All the recordings in the box have been remastered in high-definition sound, the vast majority of them specifically for this new edition. Its contents reflect the conductor's close associations with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Wiener Philharmoniker, London’s Philharmonia Orchestra, and the Bayreuth Festival. Among the soloists are Yehudi Menuhin, Edwin Fischer, Kirsten Flagstad, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Martha Mödl, Lauritz Melchior, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Wolfgang Windgassen.
The set also offers an audio documentary, Wilhelm Furtwängler – a Memoir, narrated and produced by Jon Tolansky. Complementing the 55 CDs is a detailed 160-page booklet which contains numerous photographs, an essay by Stéphane Topakian, former Vice-President of the Société Wilhelm Furtwängler France, and an article on sourcing and remastering the recordings, co-authored by Topakian and Christophe Hénault of Art & Son Studio.
REVIEWS:
Listen to the box and you find find ample, glorious evidence of his famous long line, his ability to make scores cohere. Throughout, there is a sense of hearing a world lost, of a conducting style dating back to Richard Wagner that, with its deliberate imprecisions and its privileging of the perceived spirit behind the music over its textual details, aims at something quite different than maestros do today.
– New York TImes
The conductor was one of the greatest of all time. Warner Classics's new 55-CD boxed set reminds us of his importance.
– Wall Street Journal
