How far down the Furtwangler rabbit hole did you go?

Furtwangler's live 1944 Beethoven Ninth, for all its technical defects, is probably one of the most gripping performances of any music ever recorded.  His wartime Bruckner Ninth is devastating.  If you haven't heard these performances, you should.  Brace yourself.

Many years ago I was driving home after a long day, and the first notes Beethoven's Ninth began on the car radio as I pulled into my driveway.  I had no idea what orchestra was playing, or who was conducting.  I had heard the Ninth before, live and recorded (Karajan, Szell, etc.). But something immediately gripped me about this interpretation.  The music was greater than I had imagined,  I sat in my car in my driveway for the entire length of Beethoven's Ninth, riveted, unwilling to miss a note.  At the end, I learned that the conductor was Furtwangler; it was the famous 1954 Lucerne performance.