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Wilhelm Furtwängler - Berliner Philharmoniker: The Radio Recordings 19391945. Berliner Philharmoniker Recordings BPHR 180181 (22 Hybrid SACDs, 184-page book). US$229.00 from https://www.berliner-philharmoniker-recordings.com/radiorecordings.html?_store=rec_en. Also available from Amazon.com, ArkivMusic (www. arkivmusic.com) and Presto Classical, (www.prestomusic.com).
Bonus DVD: Former members of the Berliner Philharmoniker talk about Wilhelm Furtwängler. (BPHR 180181-23; 14:10).
The broadcast recordings of Wilhelm Furtwängler and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, made during the final years of the Third Reich by the Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft (RRG), have circulated widely both on LP and CD, on a variety of labels. This new edition, produced by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO), holds the promise of being the first time that all of their surviving broadcast recordings have been released in one collection, in new transfers, from the best surviving source material. The BPO edition has been issued on 22 dual-layer SACDs - the CD layer is compatible with all existing CD players, but the highest resolution will be obtained on players equipped for SACD playback. The lavishly packaged collection is housed in a large, sturdy, hardboard slip case, and it includes a fold-open container with cardboard sleeves for the individual discs. A hard-bound, 184-page book in English and German contains detailed contents information, three excellent articles on the conductor and the recordings, and a generous assortment of beautifully reproduced photographs and illustrations, many in color. The collection can be ordered on the BPO website or from various internet dealers. The BPO webpage features a slide show, with three full-color photographs of the package and its contents.
The contents of the discs are arranged chronologically, by concert - a total of 21 concerts are represented, in full or in part. Works performed on those concerts that do not survive in a recording are listed in light-grey type. Having an overview of an entire program is both useful and interesting even if not all of it exists as an audio document. Each work is given its complete title, keys for symphonies and concertos, Opus and other standard catalog numbers, timings for the complete works, as well as titles and timings for individual movements. Dates of composition are given for each work, plus the date and performers for the world premieres, and the first performances by the Berlin Philharmonic. Most importantly each audio source...