Wilhelm Furtwängler: From Gluck to Ravel Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Wiener Philharmoniker, The Philhaarmonia & Wilhelm Furtwängler

• Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714 - 1787): Alceste, Wq. 44:
• 1Gluck: Alceste, Wq. 44: Overture08:48
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1758 - 1791): Don Giovanni, K. 527:
• 2Mozart: Don Giovanni, K. 527: Overture07:05
• Luigi Cherubini (1760 - 1842): Anacreon (ou l'Amour fugitive):
• 3Cherubini: Anacreon (ou l'Amour fugitive): Overture09:44
• Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828): Rosamunde, Op. 26, D. 797:
• 4Schubert: Rosamunde, Op. 26, D. 797: Entracte No. 305:00
• Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897): Hungarian Dance No. 1 in G Minor, WoO 1:
• 5Brahms: Hungarian Dance No. 1 in G Minor, WoO 103:00
• Hungarian Dance No. 3 in F Major, WoO 1:
• 6Brahms: Hungarian Dance No. 3 in F Major, WoO 102:36
• Richard Wagner (1813 - 1883): Tristan und Isolde, WWV 90, Act III:
• 7Wagner: Tristan und Isolde, WWV 90, Act III: Prelude07:35
• Gustav Mahler (1860 - 1911): Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen:
• 8Mahler: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen: I. Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht04:11
• 9Mahler: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen: II. Ging heut morgen übers Feld04:43
• 10Mahler: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen: III. Ich hab' ein glühend Messer03:27
• 11Mahler: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen: IV. Die zwei blauen Augen von meinem Schatz05:45
• Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937): Rapsodie espagnole, M. 54:
• 12Ravel: Rapsodie espagnole, M. 54: I. Prélude à la nuit04:29
• 13Ravel: Rapsodie espagnole, M. 54: II. Malagueña02:08
• 14Ravel: Rapsodie espagnole, M. 54: III. Habanera02:40
• 15Ravel: Rapsodie espagnole, M. 54: IV. Feria06:46
• Total Runtime01:17:57

Info for Wilhelm Furtwängler: From Gluck to Ravel

On From Gluck to Ravel, Wilhelm Furtwängler leads the Vienna Philharmonic and the Philharmonia Orchestra in a program that travels from Gluck's Alceste of 1767 to Ravelian Spain at the turn of the 20th century - while reserving the heart of his concert for the Germanic trio of Wagner, Brahms and Mahler.

Furtwängler opens (8 March 1954) with the Overture to Gluck’s 1767 opera Alceste, after the tragedy by Euripides. The VPO strings project both a high gloss and a deep, low resonance, while the woodwinds intone with lustrous transparency. Hector Berlioz held a high regard for this score, as had Mozart. The excruciating expressivity of the chromatic line Furtwängler embraces fervently, driving the music forward without smearing the internal lines that provide a layered passion to the progression. No les dark and harmonically stormy, the Overture to Mozart’s Don Giovanni (27 July 1953) bears a sullen gravitas that barely justifies the term “drama giocoso.” The Overture to Cherubini’s 1803 Anakreon had been as much a concert favorite of Willem Mengelberg as to Furtwängler. ˘Furtwängler (11 January 1951) realizes an explosive rendition, vibrant, elastic, and eminently transparent. The polyphony sings, especially given the luster of the VPO strings, winds, and brass. The titanic energy—Mannheim could hardly claim better “rocket” figures—tends to align Cherubini more with Beethoven than with Mozart. ...

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone
Philharmonia Orchestra
Wiener Philharmoniker
Wilhelm Furtwängler, conductor

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