I" have dreams that some day recordings of Furtwangler conducting Mahler will someday pop up....the Lieder recording is fine, but Willy doing M2? A man can dream. "
Oh please, Chris. It's better that it be left a dream. Have you ever heard Furtwaengler's recording of Hindemith's "Harmonie der Welt" symphony? It's an absolute disaster - a musical and sonic train wreck. You would think that it must be the most complicated piece of music ever written. Yet, when you hear a modern recording of it - Blomstedt, for instance - it sounds far less complicated than some of Richard Strauss' biggest works. I've heard absolutely nothing by Furtwaengler that would suggest to me that he'd have any affinity with Mahler's biggest works.
First off, an M2 with Furtwaengler would have been recorded in some shoe box hall with an incredibly undersized, wheezy sounding organ - just like the one in the Musikverein. Second, he simply would not have been fastidious enough to weed out counting mistakes and repeated wrong notes, etc. Third, his somewhat vague conducting style wouldn't have worked in a piece that requires such a high level of attention to precise timing as M2 does. The only way an M2 with Furtwaengler would have worked as a recording is if, A.); he really, REALLY wanted to do it and, B.); they gave him lots and lots of rehearsal time with Walter Legge's Philharmonia Orchestra - the best orchestra on that side of the Atlantic puddle in those post-war days. That being the case, why not put on Klemperer - who was no slouch in Mahler - and be done with it? Better yet, get Klemeperer's "live" BRSO one with Janet Baker on EMI. That one captures much of the live magic that one would associate with Furtwaengler at his best - all in great stereo, and with plenty of attention to precise timing and orchestral accuracy. In other words, you can have your cake and eat it too! Trust me, the mystique of Furtwaengler is better when it's kept a dream.
