Fawzi Haimor is an American conductor, and may be familiar to audiences there as a former assistant conductor to the Pittsburgh Symphony. He has since pursued a career in Europe and was music director of the Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen when this recording was made in 2019, although his contract there has since expired. On the basis of this recording, he is a major talent, and one to watch. This piece is very much a conductor’s symphony, and comparison with the Walter recording shows that it stands or falls on the strength of the conductor’s interpretation. As with Barenboim and Asahina with the Second Symphony, there is a strong feeling here that Haimor aspires to fill the shoes of Furtwängler-as-conductor. To his credit, this compelling account justifies that ambition.

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