Coming between the ‘Eroica’ and the C minor, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony has often been regarded as a less ‘important’ work than either of those two giants; and it inspired Schumann’s oft-quoted phrase of ‘a slender Grecian maiden between two Norse giants.’ It is a simpler, more delicate and contrasting work, more graceful in contour but not a shade less inventive melodically. Berlioz in particular waxed voluble over the B flat Symphony. He points out that the work ‘abandons wholly the ode and the elegy to return to the less lofty and sombre, but perhaps less difficult, style of the Second Symphony’; and he cites its ‘heavenly sweetness.’

The Berlin Philharmonic was founded in Berlin in 1882 and has become one of the most acclaimed and respected orchestras in the world. Wilhelm Furtwängler was their principal conductor in 1943 when this recording was made. It is only one of numerous recordings of operas, orchestral works and other compositions that Furtwängler conducted. He also held the position of principal conductor with the famous Gewandhaus Orchestra and was guest conductor with a number of other major orchestras, among them the Vienna Philharmonic.

Recorded live at the Alte Philharmonie, Berlin, 30 June 1943 by the Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft