Posted by eMc on October 30, 19102 at 07:39:21:

In Reply to: Re: Bruckner by Furtwaengler posted by JohnKoehler on October 26, 19102 at 21:31:21:

Actually, it is no surprise that Furtwaengler's recordings of Bruckner sound so poor from a recording technology point of view. Furtwaengler himself did not think much of recording technology when it came to the massive orchestral music that he found so spiritually ideal, so he never even tried to capture his interpretations of Bruckner (or the Beethoven Ninth) in the studio. Perhaps he felt that the lack of spontaneity would also be the death of Bruckner, as Furtwaengler on a good day was among the most spontaneous sounding and inspirational conductors ever (it is said that he came to his style by studying Nikish's performances religously as a young man).
The only recordings we have of Bruckner by him were made for broadcasting (some of which are fair) or perhaps some archival purpose, and often radio broadcasts were short-wave, from which it is impossible to expect any kind of reasonable sound fidelity whatsoever, so the sound quality of the broadcast source often did not seem such a high priority. The dynamic range of Bruckner or Beethoven's choral symphony would also be impossible to squeeze into the radio waves or most recording devices of the time.
Like Schnabel's performances of Beethoven and Schubert etc., Furtwaengler's orchestral readings of the Germanic composers dearest to his heart were intended to bring out the spirituality, the philosophy, of the musical message rather than dwell on the superficial sonic beauty. There is an attitude toward music often encountered in the pre-WW II classical (and other) musicians that is seldom if ever heard today, and I think partly it has to do with the freedom of rhythmic pulse that many of the great conductors of the past exhibit. Perhaps Toscanini was a rare exception, or a forerunner of the metrically precise but often rather dry conductors of today. There being no spiritual comprehension or sympathy with the composer's message, some conductors resort to gaudy tricks or distractions of period instrumentation and rhythmic distortion like Norrington and Harnoncourt.
It is also possible that there are too many recorded performances available, and conductors are trying hard to churn their brains to render any sort of originality out of their renditions.
Anyway, if pretty sounds are what excite you about Classical or any other music, then there is no reason to listen to Furtwaengler or Knappertsbusch or any other of the great conductors whose best work generally preceeded the stereo era. But if you have the patience and imagination to "retune" your ears to get past the compressed dynamic range, limited frequency curve, surface noise and tape hiss, and listen to what the conductor and performers actually have to say, there are amazing and unfortunately in the present day unattainable rewards and treasures to be discovered. Think of it as a black and white archival photograph of Abraham Lincoln or something -- we find no contemporary records stating that Lincoln's skin and hair and eyes were colored only with various shades of gray, but we don't worry about that when we see his extant photographs, and we wouldn't reject them as unacceptable just because they aren't in color.

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