[Ralph]

Hi, I am a passionate Furtwangler lover and I wanted to know which of his recordings you love the most. I personally love his Beethoven above all.

[Tyson]

I think his Bruckner and Wagner are both quite good.

[rpf]

I'm not a fan of all of his Beethoven recordings (or all of his recordings by any one composer actually) but his LvB 6th and 9th are favorites. The Lucerne 9th above all, but Bayreuth also. His late Bruckner recordings as well.

[kernelbob]

The Bruckner symphony #5 with the Berlin Philharmonic recorded on October 28, 1942.  The original recording was one of many taken at the end of WWII by the Soviets and remained unavailable until 1986.  Fortunately, the Germans had developed magnetic tape recording in time for this performance and the sound quality is sufficient to let you listen into the musical lines without distraction.  Furtwangler gives the music a sense of lightness and natural flow which is no easy task with the Bruckner symphonies and it's over all too soon.

[coverto]

Gotta go with "Tristan & Isolde," no one ever launched that work into the heavens and let it linger there so beautifully the way he did. The ambient noise in the concert hall, however, does bug me to a degree.

[Tyson]

So guys, who is the better conductor, Furtwangler, or Kleiber? 

[jerryleefish]

Which Kleiber, Carlos or his father?

[sibelius]

Love his Bruckner, Wagner, WWII performances of Beethoven 3,5 & 9, Just about any of his Brahms 1, Schumann 4 and Schubert 9. 

[JBrahms]

I will go with the Bruckner 8th, coupled with Tristan.  Powerful stuff.  On Music and Arts cd