"In the Germany of Himmler, should one not be permitted to play Beethoven? People never needed more, never yearned more, to hear Beethoven and his message of freedom and human love, than precisely these Germans, who had to live under Himmler's terror. I do not regret having stayed with them."
Those are the words of Wilhelm Furtwängler, a conductor who chose to stay in Nazi Germany and conduct the Berlin Philharmonic when many of his colleagues fled or were forced to leave — or worse. Furtwängler was never a member of the Nazi Party and was exonerated by a postwar tribunal, but his name will forever be connected with that painful and tragic era.
On this week's Learning to Listen, join me to commemorate the 130th anniversary of the birth of Wilhelm Furtwängler and the legacy he left — while also listening to some of the conductors who did not stay in fascist and Nazi Europe. They instead made the United States their home and shaped an American symphonic sound — often using the podium and baton as tools for their personal dictatorship.
Program Playlist
George Szell/Cleveland OrchestraBeethoven, Symphony 5 (mvt 1)
Sony 47651
Fritz Reiner/Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Bartók, Concerto for Orchestra (mvts 2 and 5)
RCA 5604
Fritz Reiner/Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Strauss, Ein Heldenleben excerpt
RCA 5408
Arturo Toscanini/NBC Symphony
Dukas, Sorcerer's Apprentice
RCA 6205
Wilhelm Furtwangler/Berlin Philharmonic
Bruckner, Symphony No. 5 (mvt 3)
Discocorp 538
Furtwangler/Berlin Philharmonic
Beethoven, String Quartet, op 130: Cavatina
Teldec 76435