Dvorák: Symphony No. 9 'From the New World' / Smetana: Die Moldau / Liszt: Les Préludes [Australia] [Import]

Antonin Dvorak (Composer), Ferenc Fricsay (Conductor), Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
• Conductor: Ferenc Fricsay
• Composer: Antonin Dvorak
• Audio CD (July 2, 2001)
• SPARS Code: ADD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Deutsche Grammophon Imports
• ASIN: B00005MJ13
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #52,036 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #60 in Music > Classical > Forms & Genres > Preludes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Anthological performances!, November 16, 2005

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Hiram Gomez Pardo (Valencia, Venezuela) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dvorák: Symphony No. 9 'From the New World' / Smetana: Die Moldau / Liszt: Les Préludes [Australia] (Audio CD)

It is very difficult to maintain the serene objectivity and required tact when we are talking about Ferenc Fricsay. Specially when we have to mention one of the most reminded and well known Symphonic works that for so many years has engaged and captivated the great audiences all over the whole world.

I have listened this recording at least sixty times (one more before making this review). What Fricsay achieved with the hundred musicians of the Berlin was simply incredible. The performance is filled of undeniable vitality, sweeping energy, stylized phrasing and mercurial passion. Such evidence of fervor and emotive conviction to be true, I have never listened in any other recording recorded previously and pitifully recently. Such Dionysian rapture you will never find in any other performance, and believe me I have intended with Toscanini, Kertsez, Munch, Keilberth, Kubelik-Berlin( my Fifth choice), Kubelik-Chicago, Giulini-Chicago, Reiner, Bernstein, Ormandy, Fiedler, Stokowski, Horenstein, Muti, Mr. K, Klemperer , Dorati and Paray. Vaclav Smetacek (my second choice) , Vaclav Talich (Third choice) and Vaclav Neuman (Fourth choice) are exuberant and definitively inspired but are so far respect this one, that you may consider I am exaggerating.

Additionally we have two minor works in what artistic ambition concerns: Die Moldau is played with such charge of passion, interpretative fierceness and delicate lyricism as you never listened previously.

The Preludes have a serious rival: Fiedler-Boston Pops, but it is ambitious and notably expansive.

In synthesis, if you consider these three gems included in just one CD, well you are rewarded twice. The sound is superb.

Please, go for it. It will never let you down. An authentic musical treasure and a fabulous legacy for the new generations to come.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitive Dvorak, March 7, 2004

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Michael B. Richman (Portland, Maine USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dvorák: Symphony No. 9 'From the New World' / Smetana: Die Moldau / Liszt: Les Préludes [Australia] (Audio CD)

Before the great conductor Ferenc Fricsay died (tragically young at the age of 48 in 1963), he made dozens of brilliant mono and stereo recordings for Deutsche Grammophon. Many of his most significant recordings have been released on CD, though some have already drifted out-of-print (Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra, Mozart Syms 29, 39-41 and Beethoven Syms 3, 5 & 7 for example), while others are only available as expensive imports. This past year there has even been a limited edition box set of his music released (in the "Original Masters" series -- see my review). Well, let me just say that any and all of Fricsay's recordings for DG are worth getting, regardless of what you have to pay! I am delighted to discover that this DG Originals Import of Fricsay performing Dvorak's 9th Symphony, Smetana's Die Moldau and Liszt's Les Preludes is available through Amazon. Both the Smetana (1960) and the Liszt (1959) are first rate, but the 1959 stereo account Dvorak "New World" is among the finest I've ever heard. And don't think this title is in anyway inferior because it is only available as an import. The only reason this DG Originals title was not released in the States is because it directly competes with another title in their series by Rafael Kubelik. Certainly, if DG can find room for both the Fricsay and the Kubelik performances in its catalog, collectors can too on their CD shelves.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Broad, weighty and dramatic, February 17, 2009

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SwissDave (Switzerland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dvorák: Symphony No. 9 'From the New World' / Smetana: Die Moldau / Liszt: Les Préludes [Australia] (Audio CD)

Had some fun comparing Dvorák 9ths lately. My favourite four are/remain the same, in ascending order: Bernstein/NYP (1962) takes the Largo too slowly (admittedly to great effect), then the Scherzo at a breakneck pace (impressively but unnecessarily so, I'm afraid), a fun reading, well-executed and -recorded. Fricsay/BPO (1959) is broad, dramatic, weighty, well-played and -recorded. Ancerl/CPO (1961) sounds the most Czech and idiomatic of all, a lithe, lean and agile reading whose sound quality comes out very well in the most recent remasterings (also available as XRCD). Kertész/VPO (1961) brings together the best qualities of them all, and still sounds great in the latest Japanese remastering (also available as Esoteric SACD hybrid, which I haven't heard yet), and remains my top favourite (but I like interpretive variety, which one will get on the highest quality level owning all four of these recordings). The Kertész/LSO (1966) sounds curiously "flat" (as others have observed here and elsewhere) in comparison, too much of a déjà vu perhaps, but it's still in the league (or close) of other good recordings, such as those by Horenstein, Kubelik, Neumann, Reiner, Szell and Talich.

Great remastering, by the way, probably the best this recording has got so far. Wholeheartedly recommended, even as an only version (not my thing, though). Nice fillers (other 9ths come without any), by the way, with the 1960 Moldau and 1959 Liszt Les Préludes possibly my favourite recordings each.

Greetings from Switzerland, David.