Revox Master Tape, JOHANNES BRAHMS - SYMPHONY NO. 1

Franz Konwitschny – Gewandhausorchester Leipzig

Franz Konwitschny conducts Brahms’ 1st Symphony
Alongside his distinguished concert activities, Franz Konwitschny was inextricably linked to the founding and development of the new Eterna label. Between 1959 and 1961, Eterna released all the symphonies of Beethoven and Schumann in the then-innovative stereo format. Like all of Konwitschny’s late recordings, these discs are highly sought-after collector’s items today, offering interpretations of lasting significance.

This remarkable document of the great maestro is the present recording of Johannes Brahms’ First Symphony, made in June 1962 – just a few weeks before Konwitschny’s death. The producer of this recording, Dieter-Gerhardt Worm, praises “the cohesion and beauty of sound in the interpretation. Konwitschny does nothing subjective; he interprets the work. When I played the recording for him in the hospital before his final concert tour, tears of joy streamed down his face.” Worm, who as a young production manager for Eterna was involved in most of the Konwitschny recordings, recalls the concentrated studio work and the conductor’s immense artistic significance: “As a conductor, he was always one of the greatest in my opinion. What he achieved as a Bruckner conductor was incredible. Konwitschny was more than a musician who could be told what to do; he was someone who instinctively knew how to apply what he had learned and integrate it into his conducting gestures.”

Label: Eterna

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