Basel Symphony Archive

FELIX WEINGARTNER: Complete Symphonies. Symphonies 1 – 7 & Symphonic Works – CPO (7 discs)

by Audiophile Audition | Mar 4, 2016 | SACD & Other Hi-Res Reviews

FELIX WEINGARTNER: Complete Symphonies. Symphonies 1 – 7 and Symphonic Works [Details follow] – Maya Boog, sop./ Franziska Gottwald, alto/ Rolf Romei, tenor /Christopher Bolduc, bar./ Babette Mondry, organ/ Czech Philharmonic Choir Brünn/ Symphonieorchester Basel/ Marko Letonja – CPO multichannel SACD, 777 938-2, TT: 38 hr. 18 min. (7 SACDs) [Distrib. by Naxos] ****: This set traces the symphonic careers of one of the twentieth-century’s great conductors, from the Romantic to the not-very-late Romantic era. Some listeners swear that the finest conductor-symphonist of the twentieth century is Bruno Walter. I confess I haven’t heard his Symphony No. 1, also brought to us by the enterprising folks at CPO. Others favor the view that Wilhelm Furtwängler’s three massive Brucknerian works are tops. I admit that No. 2 is impressive, though it tends to go to lengths that even Bruckner might have blushed at. But certainly none of these masters could match, at least in terms of production, Felix Weingartner, who managed to turn out seven symphonies and a large clutch of other symphonic works while engaged in an international conducting career. In fact, it seems he, like Mahler, considered himself a composer who also conducted. I had started to follow this […]