Naxos Historical has already given us the great recordings made by Wilhelm Furtwangler during his Indian Summer years, and now delves back to those discs he made before 1940. Thankfully we have stylistically come a long way in our appreciation of the music of Bach since these recordings were made in the 1930’s, Furtwangler’s lugubrious and heavy-handed approach to the Third Brandenburg Concerto will amuse modern ears, while the portentous Berlin Philharmonic trudge unsmilingly through the Air from the Third Suite. Things improve as we buzz happily through the overture to Mozart’s La nozze di Figaro and there is much to admire in the overture to Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail. We return to the Germanic weightiness for Eine kleine Nachtmusik devoid of that transparent sprightliness we enjoy today, the phrasing often short and lumpy, the performance as a whole exonerated by the happy finale. Excerpts from Schubert’s incidental music to Rosamunde more readily accepts this heavy treatment, the admirable playing of the Berlin orchestra heard at its best. Once again the Naxos restoration is very good, the inner clarity unbelievable for its time of recording.