Wilhelm Furtwängler is one of those conductors who seems to inspire near-fanaticism in many of his admirers. Set up as the polar opposite of Arturo Toscanini, who loved to declare absolute devotion to the score (whether it happened to be true or not), Furtwängler took what was on the page as the mere foundation on which to erect towering cathedrals in the sound.

This Thursday morning on WPRB, we’ll get to hear what happens when the architect and builder happen to be the same, as Wilhelm Furtwängler conducts his Symphony No. 2. We’ll enjoy it on the anniversary of Furtwängler’s birth.

In addition, there will be original compositions by other musicians best recognized by posterity as conductors – people like Antal Doráti, Otto Klemperer, Igor Markevitch, Paul Paray, André Previn, Evgeny Svetlanov, and George Szell.

I hope you’ll join me, as conductors compose themselves, this Thursday morning from 6 to 11 EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. The composers’ conduct will definitely be most becoming, on Classic Ross Amico.