Wilhelm Furtwängler plays and conducts Bach Brandenburg Concerto No.5, 1st mvt (1940)

The first movement of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No.5 from a December 1940 Vienna Philharmonic performance conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler. Furtwängler directs from the piano, and is accompanied by flautist Josef Niedermayr with the violinist being the VPO’s then leader Wolfgang Schneiderhan.

There is some mystery with this recording as neither the December 21 nor 22 concert appears to have been broadcast: the music plays continuously, as might be expected in a radio recording, but there is a gap of about a minute in the slow movement. Magnetic tape was then being developed, but this was more probably made by the Selenophone system on nitrate film, perhaps as a technical test, and later copied to tape for safety.

The performance is indeed controversial and unconventional, with broad tempi and grand gestures, but is of great historical interest, a rare opportunity to hear the legendary conductor at the keyboard.

This release comes from a new Maestro Edition CD that presents, in addition to this 1940 performance of the 5th Concerto, Furtwängler’s much discussed performances of Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 3 and 5 from a Salzburg Festival concert in 1950. Unlike most previous issues, no sonic processing has been applied to the recordings:

https://www.maestroeditions.com/store/me-008-furtwangler-bach-brandenburg-cti-vpo-live-me-008/

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