Wagner - Lohengrin – Prelude. Tannhäuser – Overture. Siegfried Idyll. Götterdämmerung – Siegfried’s Rhine Journey; Siegfried’s Funeral March

Lucerne Festival Orchestra; Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra / Wilhelm Furtwängler

Testament mono SBT1141 Buy now

(61' · ADD)

Recorded late 1940s.

This is, as they say, something else. Lohengrin’s Act 1 Prelude opens the disc of studio recordings, the only item of five with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. The way the Swiss brass crescendos on the up-beat to the climactic delivery of the hymn must rate among the most elating of all Furtwängler moments. Why this and the Tannhäuser Overture have never been issued before remains a mystery, as probably do all the reasons why, in the latter piece, the Vienna Philharmonic sounds on fire for Furtwängler and on duty for, say, Knappertsbusch in 1953 (once available on a Decca LP). Siegfried’s Rhine Journey evolves in one seamless sweep, barring the split-second but disconcerting rhythmic hiatus at the moment of take-off (4'51"). And mercifully, Furtwängler doesn’t tag on the trite concert ending (as did Reiner and Toscanini), giving a chance to wonder at the uniquely resonant low brass sounds of the VPO.

Then on to the Funeral March, every dark sound fully charting the depths, every phrase carrying special import and, as in the Siegfried Idyll, the occasional passage reminding us of standards of tuning of the day. The latter account, Furtwängler’s only recording of the piece, engages rather than diverts and charms, with Vienna string-playing typically sweet and rapturous, and ‘Siegfried, Hope of the World’ tensely built to an almost delirious climax. Depth, presence and a naturally achieved clarity characterise all these recordings, and 78 sources only occasionally make their presence felt.