Testament’s restoration of The 1942 Fischer/Furtwängler Brahms Second Piano Concerto was made from the same source material used for Deutsche Grammophon’s 1989 series devoted to the conductor’s wartime Berlin Philharmonic broadcasts. The new transfer reveals more background hiss, yet differs little from its predecessor in terms of overall ambience and timbre. The performance crackles with spontaneity and thrust, as soloist and conductor push each other to expressive heights. Edwin Fischer’s fingers occasionally derail in difficult passages, yet he is surprisingly secure in some of the work’s gnarlier moments, like the finale’s scales in thirds. Filling out the disc, Fischer and Furtwängler’s 1939 studio recording of the slow movement from the conductor’s sprawling B minor piano concerto receives a full-bodied, atmospheric transfer that is superior to previous CD incarnations.
