The entry to this movement can be qualified as a constant, inasmuch as Furtwängler always insisted on a slight emphasis on the sfp (sforzando piano), as well as on a poco ritardando starting earlier than required in the score, to the effect of having the listener ready for great expectations.

This preparation would be useless if the glorious passage which follows does not justify it.

First fortissimo

Here, we can witness again the main features of the three performances as already noted in the great conductor’s interpretations of the 1st movement.

Second fortissimo

This broad tempo, already announced in the « martellato » passage of the second movement, is now in full blazing glory, and the listener will find it very difficult to resist the unmistakable ecstasy expressed by the violins on the second fortissimo – only rendered possible a this very tempo.

This tempo shall remain unchanged, including the central part of the movement. Furtwängler has never deterred from that vision, whereas most conductors revert to two different tempi : a fast one for the first part (taken as a quick Scherzo) and a slower one (sometimes considerably so !) for the central part fugato (wrongly regarded as a Trio). Furtwängler has settled here for a unique basic tempo which fits perfectly both parts of the movement. In spite of Weingartner’s strong recommendations for that very choice, an overwhelming majority of conductors fall into the trap of 2 different tempi, including the great Toscanini ! Here then, is the fugato, played with optimum articulation on the strings, namely by the impressive bass section of the Berlin Philharmonic players.

Another Furtwängler constant : the preparation for the entry into the “kingdom of shadows” (the recapitulation). The poco ritardando starts much earlier than at the beginning of the movement, and every single instrument plays to its last breath, until a nearly total fade-out of the theme, before it rises again from its embers, and re-starts on its long journey whence there is no return…. (only a faint remembrance of the theme occurs later in the last movement as a bridge passage).