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Wilhelm Furtwängler – Beethoven Ix. Sinfonie D-moll Op. 125

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Format: Box bis 5 Kg
Origin: Germany
Style: Classical
Cover: VG
Media: VG/VG+ · leichte Oberflächenspuren, Platten sollten gereinigt werden
Extras: Matrix Seite C = 2XRA 18-4, Matrix Seite D = 2XRA 19-6
Item no.: box83

Wilhelm Furtwängler - Beethoven IX. Sinfonie D-moll Op. 125 2 x Vinyl LP Germany Overall rating Germany · Box bis 5 Kg · Matrix Seite C = 2XRA 18-4, Matrix Seite D = 2XRA 19-6 Cover: VG Media: VG/VG+ · leichte Oberflächenspuren, Platten sollten gereinigt werden Nr. box83 €129.99 ✓ SELECTED

Wilhelm Furtwängler - Beethoven IX. Sinfonie D-moll Op. 125 2 x Vinyl LP Germany

In depth We took particular care over this item.

Description

On the drive home from the concert, the story goes, Wilhelm Furtwängler had the car stopped and went for a walk to cool off. Walter Legge, producer at his record company EMI, had sounded lukewarm about that evening's Ninth. It was 29 July 1951, and Beethoven's Ninth had just opened the first Bayreuth Festival since the war.

This box can be read as Legge's belated answer to that evening. Furtwängler died in November 1954 before his Beethoven cycle was finished in the studio, and for the missing Ninth Legge turned to Bayreuth – the only candidate recorded with EMI's own microphones. EMI first issued the recording in 1955, with Schwarzkopf, Höngen, Hopf and Edelmann and the chorus Wilhelm Pitz had rebuilt for 1951. It is probably not quite the concert: the president of the Wilhelm Furtwängler Society of America held the EMI version to be edited dress-rehearsal takes; Orfeo only released the concert itself in 2008.

For us that in-between status is the appeal: Legge's Ninth is how the Bayreuth legend was heard for half a century, here in a German Electrola edition. We reckon a Furtwängler collector will want it beside the Orfeo release – or beside his Ninth with the Berlin Philharmonic.

Both discs are graded vg/vg+, show light surface marks and should be cleaned before first play; the box is vg.

Label: Electrola / “His Master’s Voice” (red label with Nipper the dog)
Catalogue number: WALP 1286/87, box also marked “M 33”
Rights notice: not legible in the label photo; box: “Aufgenommen im Festspielhaus Bayreuth 1951” (recorded at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus 1951)
Origin: pressed in Germany
Work: Beethoven, Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 – conductor: Wilhelm Furtwängler
Format: 2 LPs, sides A to D, in a cloth-covered hinged box with paper inner sleeves
Matrices: side C: 2XRA 18-4 · side D: 2XRA 19-6

Also of interest in this context:

Ninth with the Berlin Philharmonic — Another Ninth from Furtwängler, with the Berlin Philharmonic – the natural counterpart for collectors who compare versions.

Further reading: Präsident der amerikanischen Furtwängler-Gesellschaft (Wikipedia) ↗ opens in a new tab

All references (8 sources)

Own examination of the object — German pressing; matrices side C 2XRA 18-4 and side D 2XRA 19-6; records vg/vg+ with light surface marks, should be cleaned; cassette vg; one copy
Own photos of the cassette and label — Electrola / "His Master's Voice", WALP 1286/87 and "M 33", printed "Aufgenommen im Festspielhaus Bayreuth 1951", cloth-covered folding cassette with paper inner sleeves, red Nipper label bearing the name Electrola
Wikipedia (English): Bayreuth Festival — Reopening of the Festival on 29 July 1951 with Beethoven's Ninth under Furtwängler; soloists Schwarzkopf, Höngen, Hopf, Edelmann; EMI recording
Wikipedia (English): Wilhelm Furtwängler — Death on 30 November 1954; EMI release in 1955, described by the President of the Wilhelm Furtwängler Society of America as spliced dress-rehearsal recordings; unedited concert recording released by Orfeo in 2008
Wikipedia (English): Wilhelm Pitz — Pitz rebuilt the Bayreuth Festival Chorus for the reopening in 1951
Rob Cowan: Beethoven, Wilhelm Furtwängler and the Sound of Silence (2022) — On the journey home after the concert, Furtwängler had the car stop and walked the rest of the way after Walter Legge had spoken lukewarmly about the performance
Ramesh Nair, review on SA-CD.net / HRAudio (2009) — Furtwängler died before completing a Beethoven studio cycle; Legge sought a concert recording of the Ninth, and only Bayreuth 1951 had been recorded with EMI microphones
Multivariate Life: Furtwängler’s EMI Beethoven symphonies (2017) — First release of the Bayreuth Ninth as an HMV double album in November 1955

Our own research on this copy, as of 30 Sep 2026. Every statement is backed by a source or marked as an assessment.

Tracklist

A	1. Satz: Allegro Ma Non Troppo, Un Poco Maestoso
B	2. Satz: Molto Vivace
C	3. Satz: Adagio Molto E Cantabile - Andante Moderato - Adagio
D	4. Satz: Presto - Allegro Alto Vocals – Elisabeth Höngen Bass Vocals – Otto Edelmann Chorus – Chor der Bayreuther Festspiele Soprano Vocals – Elisabeth Schwarzkopf Tenor Vocals – Hans Hopf Chorus Master – Wilhelm Pitz