Furtwangler: Beethoven Symphony no. 9 "Choral" (Bayreuth 1951) 4/2/3

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony no. 9 in D minor op. 125
Elizabeth Schwarzkopf (soprano), Elisabeth Hoengen (alto), Hans Hopf (tenor), Otto Edelmann (bass)
Bayreuth Festspielhausorchester, Wilhelm Furtwangler
Live Recording, July 29 1951

This used to be my favorite recording of the Ninth, but the poor orchestral playing and the poor balances are really starting to wear on me. I prefer the Philharmonia recording, and I would suggest that to people who are unfamiliar with either the work of Furtwangler's conception of it.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Ludwig
• van
• Beethoven
• Ninth
• Choral
• Symphony
• Wilhelm
• Furtwangler
• Bayreuth
• Festival
• 1951

[imranbug81]

plz tell me which country's National Anthem is this ?

[shellac1925]

@imranbug81 It's the anthem of the European Union.

[Renardeau44]

Very bad remastering, we can't hear the orchestra.

[shellac1925]

@Renardeau44 Most people have complained that you can't hear the chorus. In any case, the balances are way off, and so is frequency spectrum. The former is impossible to fix, but the latter can be fixed, but EMI didn't do a great job at it. I tried to tweak it once, and it didn't work out. I might take another stab at it soon.

[shellac1925]

@livegems For a singer, 54 IS an advanced age. Most singers are past their prime by then. Also, I write English better than most of the people on YouTube, moron.

[sorrowofyoungwerther]

@Renardeau44 well, you can hear them pretty well around the 6 minute mark...

God this is incredible.

[Gheorgyi]

@Renardeau44 You could take into due consideration the technical limitations of recording in 1951, and the conditions of Berlin at that time. There can be no "remastering" good enough to compensate for defects in the original recording. As far as I can remember, the recording was then "analogic", and "tape recording" was just at its beginning. Until then, recording was made on a hair-thin steel wire. I used to own a Webster wire recorder then...

[Gheorgyi]

@shellac1925 Funny, two americans (or, at least, people who give the USA as their country in their YT profiles) bickering about prowess at writing English...

[dario621000]

Per ora l'unica cosa che ci unisce è la Champions League.

[Martinkonny1]

this is a typical mono recording with one or two microphones on a single track tape-machine. Not unusual for the early 50s.

[livegems]

@shellac1925 interesting you think 54 id an "advanced" age, 1925... learn to write english

[genevievelucfranklin]

despite technical weaknesses, it is wonderful to hear this again . thank to all those who made this possible!