0:00 Intro and commentary
8:27 Brahms 1 opening (Toscanini)
9:51 Brahms 1 opening (Furtwangler)
12:15 Brahms 3 opening (Toscanini)
13:42 Brahms 3 opening (Furtwangler)
15:23 Brahms 3 2nd theme (Toscanini)
16:00 Brahms 3 2nd theme (Furtwangler)
16:55 Brahms 3 2nd theme cont (Toscanini)
17:45 Brahms 3 2nd theme cont (Furtwangler)
19:16 Brahms 3 2nd mvt (Toscanini)
20:03 Brahms 3 2nd mvt (Furtwangler)
22:53 Tchaikovsky Symphony No 6 2nd theme
26:55 Wagner: Siegfried Act 1 âForging Songâ
32:10 Bruckner Symphony No 8 mvt 3
38:34 Brahms Hungarian Dance No 1
Music in the intro is Earl Wildâs Etude no. 1 after George Gershwinâs âLizaâ
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I don't really understand the autocratic tradition with conductors. It just seems mad to think you'll get a better performance that way rather than your orchestra being relaxed and having a good time. I guess it's from the same school of thinking as the kinda abusive piano teachers that used to be common.
This lonely old widow in a đ¨đŚ nursing home greatly appreciates your informative videos. Imagine, a YouTube channel without ratchet screaming & cursing! You have inspired me to try my 80-year-old, arthritic hands at the piano again, something I haven't done in decades. Since my time left on this earth is brief, I'm focusing on one piece, Bach's Air on the G String. I must finally have developed dementia to choose something so difficult đ. Wish me luck!
I really like these videos where you talk about specific pianists and I'm definitely enjoyed this video as well. If I may, I would like to suggest a few pianists I would like to hear your commentary on: (rudolf) serkin, pogorelich, backhaus, gould (I've seen all of your videos on pianists and I dont think you made one on gould yet!)
There is no such thing as "the greatest conductor of all time ". But Furtwangler was undoubtedly ONE of the greatest conductors of al time .
I would have to pick Eugene Ormandy as the most extraordinary conductor. Was he the greatest? That's a less interesting question from my perspective. His bold vision produced such uniquely compelling renditions of the orchestral works he recorded with the Philadelphia Orchestra. I wish I could go back in time to hear him live. It's not surprising that Rachmaninov felt such an affinity with Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Their collaborations are a testament to music's ability to acquaint humanity with the sublime.
How great to hear you discuss orchestral works, especially of Brahms. Thanks for putting this together. Really appreciate your insight and being able to follow along with the reduced scores.
Really interesting video Cole, much to think on. I think an interesting topic is how did Furtwangler achieve that fluidity. Did he rehearse pieces so that the orchestra simply learned what he wanted, and itâs always the same, or, as I think you suggest, was this happening in the moment. The latter relies totally on the orchestra watching the conductor at the appropriate time and the conductor being able to adapt to what they actually do
Good orchestras can do this, lesser orchestras perhaps not.
I was lucky to see Siegfried last year and the snippet you played was very powerful. I like his expansive tempi and performances, they work for me.
A topic Iâd like you to address one day is that which motivated this video, I think. How does a pianist make the piano sound not like a piano. Where do âcoloursâ come from, are they real or imaginary ? Does it matter ? What can you actually do with the pedals? Are there 3 or 25 levels of pedal gradation ? Can you actually affect the sound your instrument makes (you know, wiggling your finger on a key to deliver vibrato – hilarious!).
What quality of instrument do you need to do these things ? What level of expertise do you need ?
There that could fill an entire yearâs worth of videosâŚ
There is an expansive article in Wikipedia on Furtwanglers relationship with the Nazis.
Furtwangler, the most overrated conductor of all time. Yeah, he had those flexible tempi and lots of drama, so what?? I've never heard a single performance of his that made my blood boil, unlike Klemperer, Sanderling, Barbirolli, Kempe or Mitropoulos. But for some reason people still following this silly narratives đ¤ˇ
Excellent video and examples! You and Furtwangler convinced me, it is so enriching to take …time… in the music and apply a certain degree of flexibility and dynamics, to express ourselves and to make music catchy! Interesting music fragments! How special it must be for a pianist to play with an entire orchestra… And how exciting as a conductor to search for optimal harmonious and natural interplay…
1/ Excellent, very informative and impressive video.
2/ Furtwängler learned musical analysis from Heinrich Schenker, and this can be heard in his interpretations. In my opinion, this is one of the reasons for his superiority over Toscanini.
No, not for me, much as I love some of WF's recordings, e.g. his Tristan. Toscanini's the one for me.
I think we always need to reflect on the morality of conducting Beethovenâs ode to joy in front of an audience of brown shirt Nazis.
I think we always need to reflect on the morality of conducting Beethovenâs ode to joy in front of an audience of brown shirt Nazis.
Furtwängler was a giant. I love him, but I prefer Mengelberg. In my opinion, Mengelberg combined Furtwängler's romantic inspiration and Toscanini's strictness and achieved results that outmatched them both. Try his Mahler 4, Tchaikovsky 5, Brahms 1, Rach 2 (with Gieseking… the greatest recording of this piece ever?), Grieg Peer Gynt, BartĂłk Violin concerto etc.
What about George Szell, Markevitch, Mackerras, Martineau, Fricsay and a few others that virtually never made a bad recording….
Really excellent appreciation of a phenomenal artist. Your musical examples show how expressively his orchestras played under Furtwangler as opposed to the rigid, mechanical, time-beating of Toscanini and so many other conductors. Furtwangler's most dramatic performances to my mind occured during the darkest war years. HIs January 1945 performance of Brahms 1 is incredibly thrilling. Only the finale survives, sadly, but what a mind-blowing 15 minutes!
CORRECTION: I misspoke rather seriously in this video when I stated that Furtwängler had been suspended after the war because of charges of collaboration. In point of fact, he was entirely exonerated on all counts of collaboration. I hadnât originally intended to talk about this and when I did bring it up on the spot I think I got the case of Alfred Cortot (who was indeed suspended for a period of time after the war) mixed up with Furtwängler in my mind.
it is a big deal that Furtwängler and Toscanini didn't live long enough to make stereo recordings. Stereo sound has an immense effect on orchestral music reception and because of that, they were both superseded by following generations of conductors.
My teacher's teacher's teacher was Nikolaev (-whose class included peiople like Shostakovich, Yudina and Sofronitsky) – and did you know that he listened to Tchaikovsky conduct? He was 13. (CF book by Brown on Tchaikovsky). Apparently Tchaik stamped his foot in in appropriate places. Rachmaninboff conducted more than 50 performances before he left Russia. He was apparently rather good.
Please – on the basis of Furwangler's recordings he is not in the top 10 of the 20th century by any means. So how many of us alive in 2024 can credibly assert his superiority? This is really a disappointing click-bait kind of video posting. Please just listen to the recordings as a whole – listen! He was not phenomenal at all. Especially as a "pianist' to assert his superiority where his ability to accompany the piano is quite odd. Be independent, but listen and not be inane!
I do enjoy Otto Klempererâs recordings for the similar reason of expressive openness, with lots of room for performers to make their own decisions. Klempererâs Brahms, Mahler, and Wagner recordings are quite well known. Still havenât heard a version of Die fliegende Holländer that compares to the 1968 recording with the New Philharmonia Orchestra, when Klemperer was 80 years old.