Weber / Vienna Philharmonic / Furtwaengler,Wilhelm - Der Freischutz - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Furtwängler had a unique philosophy of music. He saw symphonic music as creations of nature that could only be realized subjectively into sound. Neville Cardus wrote in the Manchester Guardian in 1954 of Furtwängler's conducting style InchHe did not regard the printed notes of the score as a final statement, but rather as so many symbols of an imaginative conception, ever changing and always to be felt and realized subjectively...Inch This precious edition by Furtwängler was made available following a performance at the Salzburg Festival in 1954, the last year of the director's life and fortunately this was not an amateur tape! The performance was instead recorded by Austrian radio technicians, and still today it can be counted among those that enjoy excellent sound quality.

Delving into black magic and folk culture, Weber created with Der Freischütz a new aesthetic that was to nourish the imaginative world of a whole generation of composers. René Jacobs has gone back to the sources of the initial project and here offers us a completely new reading of the very first German Romantic opera. The prologue initially conceived by the librettist is restored to it's original place, giving due symbolic and structural weight to the character of the Hermit. This is a fascinating rediscovery.

Maestro Marek Janowski leads a sensational cast - including star vocalists Lise Davidsen and Andreas Schager - on this new recording of Der Freischütz, the German Romantic opera par excellence. In the years after it's 1821 premiere, the catchy melodies, picturesque charm and spooky scenes of Der Freischütz thrilled audiences throughout Europe. Janowski's inspired reading lifts out the symphonic qualities of Carl Maria von Weber's masterpiece, and makes clear why colleagues such as Hector Berlioz and Richard Wagner raved about the work. The excellent cast consists of Lise Davidsen (Agathe), Andreas Schager (Max), Sofia Fomina (Ännchen), Alan Held (Kaspar), Markus Eiche (Ottokar) and Franz-Josef Selig (Eremit). Janowski conducts the Frankfurt Radio Symphony and MDR Radio Choir. For this recording, the original spoken dialogues have been replaced by short narrations, written by Katharina Wagner and Daniel Weber and recited by Corinna Kirchhoff and Peter Simonischeck. Marek Janowski is one of the most celebrated conductors of our times, and enjoys a vast PENTATONE discography, including complete recordings of Bruckner's symphonies and Wagner's mature operas. Frankfurt Radio Symphony has also released multiple albums on PENTATONE, including a recording of Richard Strauss's Salome (2017).