Furtwängler is better known as one of the greatest conductors
of the twentieth century than as a composer. His decision to remain
in Germany after 1933, when others from Germany took refuge abroad,
led to subsequent controversy and accusations of complicity with
the National...
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Furtwängler is better known as one of the greatest conductors
of the twentieth century than as a composer. His decision to remain
in Germany after 1933, when others from Germany took refuge abroad,
led to subsequent controversy and accusations of complicity with
the National Socialist régime that he had always in fact
opposed. His three symphonies continue and extend the earlier
Austro-German tradition of Brahms and Bruckner and were written
largely during the Hitler period, when there were less demands
on him as a conductor.