These documents recorded live at the Salzburg Festival feature Wilhelm Furtwängler conducting the Vienna Philharmonic in three consecutive seasons at the Austrian summer musical event (1948-50). The Leonore No. 3 overture suffers from muffled, distant, and distorted sound. The performance itself is as poetic and full of expressive outbursts as it is chaotic, with frequently out-of-tune woodwinds, raw strings, and sloppy ensemble playing. Hans Pfitzner’s C major Symphony never has been regarded as his highest achievement in the symphonic idiom, and despite Furtwängler’s commitment and obvious effort, it sounds here as uninspired, banal, and erratic as in any other available recording (including Pfitzner’s own on Preiser). Naturally, Furtwängler’s fans will rave about his Brahms Fourth from August 15, 1950. Less overtly sentimental than in his Berlin recordings of the same work, the conductor appears here at last faithful to his own legend. Despite a noisy, invasive brass section, some moments are truly unique, like the white-hot intensity of the strings in the opening phrases, the hysterical acceleration in the first movement’s coda, or the trance-like variations of the final Passacaglia. A wild performance, then, spoiled by the precarious sound.
