Brahms, J.: Alto Rhapsody / Von Ewiger Liebe / Wir Wandelten, Wir Zwei Zusammen / Beethoven, L. Van: Symphony No. 5 (Furtwangler) (1949, 1950)

Featuring

Fritz Busch
Kathleen Ferrier
Phyllis Spurr
Wilhelm Furtwängler
DR SymfoniOrkestret
Danish Radio Male Chorus

Wiener Philharmoniker
Johannes Brahms
Ludwig van Beethoven

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Historical Context

Fritz Busch, the conductor for the Brahms Alto Rhapsody, left Germany for Argentina after Hitler's rise to power in 1933.

Performer Biography

Kathleen Ferrier, the alto soloist, began her career as a telephone operator and won her first singing contest in 1938 after a wager with friends.

Performer Biography

Wilhelm Furtwängler, the conductor of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, considered himself primarily a composer, writing three symphonies, a Te Deum, and other works in a late-romantic style.

Cultural Impact

Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is arguably the best-known of all symphonies, considered by many to be the prototype of the concept of a 'Symphony'.

Recording & Production

The recording of Brahms' Alto Rhapsody with Kathleen Ferrier was assembled from Danish Radio archives and a private tape recording made by Dr. Bengt Andreas in Sweden.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Beethoven described his compositional process as carrying ideas for a long time, altering and refining them until the entire image of the music appears in his mind.

Compositional Technique

Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is unified by its themes, with the main and second themes of the first movement built from the same element, and the scherzo theme being a rhythmic variation of the first movement's main theme.