Yearly Archive: 2018

Wilhelm Furtwängler: SCHUMANN: Cello Concerto; TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 6, “Pathetique” – Berlin Philharmonic – Pristine Audio

by Audiophile Audition | Dec 27, 2018 | Classical CD Reviews, Classical Reissue Reviews

SCHUMANN: Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 129; TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74 “Pathetique” – Tibor de Machula, cello/ Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/ Wilhelm Furtwaengler – Pristine Audio PASC 545, 71:33 [www.pristineclassical.com] ****: Andrew Rose and Pristine resuscitate two appearances by Wilhelm Furtwaengler with “his wife,” the Berlin Philharmonic, the first from the War years (28 October 1942) in the music of Schumann, the Cello Concerto in A minor with first principal Tibor de Machula (1912-1982).  The work, composed in a two- week period in 1850, originally meant to be a “concert piece,” but Schumann fashioned one of his many late-period structures that employs opening materials in a variety of forms. True to a “Konzertstueck,” the piece dissolves the three-movements into an ongoing, single movement that saves the traditional cadenza for the final movement. The orchestration of this concerto proves relatively transparent, with the cello’s luxuriating in the soft ambience of plucked strings and woodwinds in the Langsam second movement, a moment of glowing intimacy. Furtwaengler lures some true grumblings for the transition to the last movement, Sehr lebhaft, a martial and energetic gesture with elements of a scherzo. Machula exhibits any number of suave moves as […]