Around the Music Festival

The controversy is finally over !? The Swedish “BIS” label has announced that it will release an album of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler at the Bayreuth Festival in Germany.

The concert was held on July 29, 1951, to celebrate the reopening of the Bayreuth Festival and is known as a legendary performance. The concert is known to have been recorded by the “EMI” label, and LP discs were released in 1955 after Furtwängler’s death.

However, in 2007, a Japanese enthusiast group found a another tape different from the recording on the “EMI” label in the Bavarian Radio’s warehouse. They broadcasted concert on the radio. Therefore, it is possible that not only the actual performance but also the rehearsal recording was left.

Since then, there has been controversy among core music fans . They made speculation that the EMI recording might have been completed by stitching together the actual performance and rehearsal recordings.

According to the announcement, the sound source of the “BIS” label album is a recording of a program broadcast by Swedish Broadcasting. It is said that it contains 85 minutes from the announcement in the first by three languages ​​(German, English, Swedish), the entrance of the conductor, the performance, the final cheers and applause, and the announcement of the end.

The release is scheduled for December 20, and will appear on the SACD hybrid version.

Photo：Bayreuther Festspiele


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