Of these two wartime performances of the Ninth Symphony, the 1942 Berlin version is greatly to be preferred. It has long been regarded by many collectors as the finest of all Furtwangler's accounts of this work, a performance of such expressive depth and volcanic power it beggars description. (Compare the 1943 version of the Fifth on DG, 9/89 and the 1944 Eroica-available on various labels-both similarly inspired.) The 1943 Stockholm Ninth sounds cold and distant by comparison. No orchestra was ever a match for Furtwangler's own Berlin Philharmonic in this symphony, and the Stockholm recording (taken from damaged lacquer discs) is a poxy affair. Not that the 1942 Berlin Radio tapes are flawless. There is persistent overload in the tuttis that casts a slight but annoyingly ever present haze over some of the first movement climaxes and much of the choral work in the finale. Technical limitations of this kind are much less of a problem in the best of Furtwangler's post-war recordings: Bayreuth (1951-EMI, 2/91) and Vienna (1953-DG, 2/92), but neither of these is quite as blazingly alive or as gloriously played as the 1942 account.
If you want a Furtwangler Ninth in your collection-and no conductor this century has demonstrated a more complete grasp of the style and content of this awesome work-the 1942 version is a necessary starting-point to which one of the better post-war recordings can usefully be added as a supplement.'