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DISCID=02071501
DTITLE=Wilhelm Furtwngler / Symphony No. 2 - CD2
DYEAR=2002
DGENRE=Classical
TTITLE0=iv Langsam - Allmahlich Vorwarts - Allegro Molto
EXTD=Editorial Reviews\nAmazon.com\nWilhelm Furtwngler is best known 
EXTD=as a conductor; he saw himself, however, as a composer who \ncond
EXTD=ucted. His first symphony is somewhat of a bore, and while the se
EXTD=cond, composed in 1944-45, \ndoes not break any new compositional
EXTD= ground, it still fascinates. At 82 minutes, it's seen as a long 
EXTD=\nlast gasp of German Romanticism (Bruckner comes to mind). The t
EXTD=hird movement, probably the most \nentertaining, has Russian and 
EXTD=Finnish (Sibelian) overtones, and the wind writing, over and unde
EXTD=r the \nswirling strings, is distinguished. In fact, Furtwngler 
EXTD=proves himself to be a wise orchestrator--note \nthe prominent ba
EXTD=ssoons in the first movement, the bass clarinet near the close of
EXTD= the third, and the \nnear-epic brass chorales in the last. This 
EXTD=recording, led by the Furtwngler-like Barenboim and \ngloriously
EXTD= played by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, replaces the scrappy M
EXTD=arco Polo release \nand certainly sonically outclasses the compos
EXTD=er's own performance on Orfeo, but the leisurely \ntempi employed
EXTD= by Barenboim (seven minutes slower than on Marco Polo and two mi
EXTD=nutes slower \nthan the composer's) mean that it requires two CDs
EXTD= rather than one. Not a masterpiece, but a \nmasterly performance
EXTD= of a work that deserves to be heard more often. --Robert Levine 
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