...from Neeme Järvi/Chandos:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9769853--wilhelm-furtwangler-symphony-no-2-in-e-minor
There can be only one question: will it match Barenboim?
Here is a video of him conducting the work last year. I wonder if it is the same live recording that will be on the album.
Ooh.
If it comes close to Barenboim I will be well pleased.
I don't think Barenboim's recording is easily available these days.
A rough calculation suggests that Järvi is about 5-6 minutes quicker than Barenboim overall.
Quote from: John Boyer on Saturday 05 April 2025, 23:52There can be only one question: will it match Barenboim?
I don't think it will, but I sort of feel obliged to buy it anyway. And Järvi père is 87, bless him - 88 on 7th June this year. He's always been an adventurous spirit...
Re Barenboim: someone's asking USD 86 for it on ebay so I guess not!
The curse of algorithmic pricing.
Available from 3rd party sellers on Amazon UK at prices between £12 and £15. But there was also one offered at the truly ridiculous price of £178!!!
Also just checked ebay and found 2 at around £13 (post free), together with, admittedly, quite a few at silly prices.
Thanks, Gareth. Well worth the reasonable prices you quoted.
There were a couple of places where I wished Järvi had applied the sort of tempo articulations that the composer and Barenboim both do, like about 6-6.5 minutes or so into the first movement, but overall it really is a terrific performance.
Agreed, Eric. Definitely worth a punt, I'd say.
(I should say I was listening to the May 2024 live performance someone has up on YouTube, which of course may not be the same as the performance that will be released on Chandos, to which I don't have access yet :)...)
Understood, Eric. We'll see...
Neeme Jarvi is 88. It is remarkable that he never ceases to amaze us with recordings of sadly undervalued works. I await his recording of Furtwangler 2 with optimism. Hopefully it will compare with the Barenboim. Long may this champion of the almost forgotten be with us.
Quote from: Elgar4Ever on Tuesday 22 April 2025, 14:31Long may this champion of the almost forgotten be with us.
Hear! Hear!
Any opinions on the Furtwängler/VPO Second on Orfeo?
Quote from: Febct on Tuesday 22 April 2025, 20:47Any opinions on the Furtwängler/VPO Second on Orfeo?
Depends whether you want modern sound...
If you're starting from scratch, I'd strongly advise searching out Barenboim which is as good as it gets - and is in superb sound.
Quote from: Alan Howe on Tuesday 22 April 2025, 21:27Quote from: Febct on Tuesday 22 April 2025, 20:47Any opinions on the Furtwängler/VPO Second on Orfeo?
Depends whether you want modern sound...
If you're starting from scratch, I'd strongly advise searching out Barenboim which is as good as it gets - and is in superb sound.
Hardly starting from scratch. I've lived with this recording and never have considered an alternative. I simply was interested in other opinions.
Quote from: Febct on Tuesday 22 April 2025, 21:53I simply was interested in other opinions.
Well, if sonics are important, then Barenboim. If not, the composer's own recording with the VPO would seem to be a good choice. It's just not for me in such a richly-textured symphony.
I just listened to the new Furtwängler recording by Neeme Järvi and the Estonians (on Presto Streaming) and quite honestly, I'm shocked.
At his best, Järvi can imbue over-played warhorses with a new energy, or elevate more obscure works to a higher level; the Raff 2&5 recording is a good example. At his worst, he rushes through everything with almost criminal nonchalance, and it just sounds as though he wants it all to be over with as soon as possible. Unfortunately, this is the Järvi we get here in what is quite possibly his worst recording I've heard sofar. Because it's not just Järvi, it's the orchestra and the sound engineer who all seem to have dropped the ball.
Furtwängler's 2nd Symphony is a complex and demanding piece (and I have to be honest, far from my favorite piece of music) but the Estonian National SO is apparently not up to it. How much they're not up to it is difficult to assess because the sonics are murky and the recording is oddly balanced, mostly to the detriment of everything further back in the orchestra. That causes an already breathless sounding (and not in a good way) performance to sound almost suffocating.
Caveat: I listened to this on a stream; possibly other media will yield different results. But don't throw out your Barenboim recording just yet.
I'm glad you've posted this review, Ilja. Don't think I'll be adding this after all. Barenboim is superb anyway - great orchestra, great sound and more in sympathy with the idiom.
I quite liked the recording by the same forces that's on YouTube, but maybe that was a concert before they made the CD rather than the CD itself.
I second the opinion. (By the way I don't have a high opinion on Barenboim/CSO/teldec recording) The recording on the CD seems not the performance on YouTube per timing. Will nevertheless check it out. Hat off to maestro Jaervi.
It's a bit off topic here but the awkward truth is that the sonics of Barenboim/CSO recording sounds even inferior to Jochum/BRSO's 1954 mono.
I respectfully disagree.
Here's Jochum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkkx1ZzRN_4
And here's Barenboim: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hgHueGOkNs
Henry Fogel, writing of Jochum's recording in the May 2011 issue of Fanfare, states: "It still of course cannot equal the sound quality of the Barenboim recording."
https://www.naxos.com/Review/Detail/?catalogueid=900702&languageid=EN
and here's Järvi's
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_klAjjBlDnq9YAjOrTZvBqy-sNmnkndauA
YouTube May 10, 2024
Chandos June 10, 2024
Many thanks for the information.
For those who absolutely require an opinion leader https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BENaPMbWUKM&pp=ygUWRnVydHdhbmdsZXIgMiBIdXJ3aXR6IA%3D%3D
Although I hardly share his enthusiasm on Barenboim/CSO. Willing to sell my like new copy of Barenboim/CSO on ebay. It sounds like many potential bidders here.
Well, there we are: Hurwitz likes it. I happen to prefer the work given more 'breathing room', which Barenboim does in spades. But everyone to his own; at least the work's getting some air time.
Considering the amount of positive feedback I went back to the recording to hear what I'd apparently missed. After a second and third listening I have to backtrack on some of my criticism of the recording; whether it was a technical glitch, something to do with headphones or something else altogether, the muddiness was largely gone. There's still some balancing issues I think, but those aren't all that serious.
Having said that, I stand by the rest of my criticism. Although few things go really wrong, the orchestra sounds to me as though they barely manage to get the piece across the finish line, and it really does sound rushed, particularly in the climaxes.
And that was enough Furtwängler for me for the rest of the decade, I think.
For me it's hard to imagine that the playing of Barenboim's Chicago Symphony Orchestra (which is spectacular) could be bettered.
Anyway, each to his own...
Yes- when I praise the Järvi I am praising the May 2024 performance on YouTube, I had not and still have not heard the June 2024 performance available on the Chandos CD.
BTW as far as I know the last recordings of this work were Barenboim's (2001) and after it Albrecht's (2003).
From a new review of Järvi's recording:
<<Readers may be aware of Barenboim's 2002 Chicago recording (Teldec, now Warner Classics). Although difficult to come by and strangely missing from streaming services' catalogue, it is still the finest performance of all.>>
https://theclassicreview.com/album-reviews/review-furtwangler-symphony-no-2-estonian-national-symphony-orchestra-neeme-jarvi/?utm_source=Mailchimp&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_campaign=July_25_Newsletter_1
Just noticed there will be a programme (https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/programm?drsearch:date=2025-08-24) called 'Interpretationen' about the symphony on DLF Kultur (in German) tomorrow, 24 August, at 15.05 CET.