Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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.

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.

Ferenc Fricsay's old recording of the Dvorak "New World" Symphony is about as individual as you can get in this music. It is also about as good as you can get, in my opinion. Not everyone feels this way, of course.

Third Ear, a fine publication that suffers from having only one person review a composer or a large slice of his music, dissed this CD. Steven Ritter, one of American Record Guide's stable of reviewers, grouped this CD with recordings by Marriner, Eschenbach, Tennstedt, Klemperer and Slatkin that he said, "...may safely be dismissed on musical or sonic grounds."

This is to say, I suppose, that this critic can only accept the music a certain way, for everything musical and sonic about this recording -- especially in its newest reincarnation -- is satisfactory. The recording always sounded good and it is splendid in the new rendering. Since its release in 1962, the performance has been on many crtiics short list of the very best renderings of the New World Symphony. The add-ons in the current recording -- Smetana's "The Moldau" and Liszt's "Les Preludes" -- are exceptionally well done by Maestro Fricsay (apparently pronounced Free-shoy much as I'd like to say FREEK-sigh).

Fricsay's way with symphonic staples was similar to others in his day. I'll never forget his recording of the Beethoven Symphony 7, which took a deliberate pace throughout until the closing pages, where he picked up the pace and completely turned around the musical experience.

In romantic music he tended to add a lot of syrup to what was already pretty thick, and he did that with this music as well. Phrases often begin slowly and build dramatically, with a burst of ongoing romantic sensibility that can seem overwrought. I think this approach works fine in the music although I agree with those who say it varies from score markings. Indeed, it is what separates his recordings from all others.

I have a co-worker that loves the music who told me his current favorite recordings was by the New York Philharmonic and Kurt Masur. This is a recording that has received plentiful critical acclaim over the years. I burned a copy of the Friscay recording and gave it to him. His verdict: "I think this is the best performance of this symphony I've ever heard." If you buy this CD, you will say that too.

In 1982, DG released a series of boxed sets commemorating the 100 years of the Berlin Philharmonic. I have the 6 lp boxed set featuring eminent guest conductors. Friscay is one of the conductors on these lps as well as Maazel, Bohm, Abbado, Jochum, Kubelik, & Rostropovich. As you can see by this list, the BPO has had to be content with some rather obscure and second rate stand ins! (just joking for those without a sense of humor). So, if you are wondering where to rank Friscay consider the notables he is included with.

DG selected this performance of Dvorak's 9th & Die Moldau for the boxed set. This has got to be one of the all time great WOW!!! Dvorak 9th performances that have ever been recorded. I have the Kertesz Dvorak 9th on lp that has served well as a benchmark and Friscay more than gives Kertesz a run for the money. Between listening to this symphony and Tchaikovsky's 4th & 5th, I ingested my RDA of brass today!

Rhapsody has some, but not a truck load, of Friscay recordings. The primary ones I put together at Rhapsody are Mendelssohn's Midsummer's Night Dream, and Tchaikovsky Symphonies 4,5,6 symphonies. Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto is included with symphony 5 and features a tremendous performance by Yehudi Menuhin. The Swan Lake Orchestral Suite is included with symphony 4. Friscay was also the conductor on many of Clara Haskil's Mozart concerto recordings. What a bummer that he died at 48 in 1963.

We also loose out because not too many of his recordings date from the late 1950s when analog had reached new lofty peaks in hi fi stereo recording. This Dvorak performance is from 1959 and is almost on par with digital. If you have the opportunity, listen to his Tchaikovsky 5th that dates from circa 1950 and compare the recording quality to his 1959 Dvorak 9th. I enjoyed the 5th very much, but had a somewhat sour analog after taste because of the sound. For that era, the sound is very, very good. His Tchaikovsky 4th recording quality wise sounds almost as good as the Dvorak 9th.

I have other recordings of the Dvorak and the Smetana, but I did not have the Liszt in my library. I have heard wonderful things about Maestro Fricsay, but again had nothing in my library, so I took a flyer on this CD. This has quickly become one of my favorite recordings. All three pieces are worthy by themselves, but as a collection, they are absolutely stunning. Despite its age, the recordings are very clean, with no evidence of compression or limited audio range. The DG engineers did a great job recording and mixing the performance. The sound is easily on par with a recording done in the past ten years, not one done 50 years ago.

But the wonder for me are the interpretations of Maestro Fricsay. All of the performances sound energetic and fresh, and develop the music in a very engaging manner. For me, these performances are the best I have ever heard of each of these pieces, and I enjoy listening to them repeatedly. This recording is easily one of the very best I have ever heard.

It is a real tragedy the Fricsay died so young, thus leaving such a limited legacy. If you hear this recording you will understand that what a great artist he was.

Fricsay was a genius, an individualist when he needed to be and formal classicist when he needed to be - and he had an almost unerring sense about when and where to be one or the other. Here, in the highly romantic and volatile music of Eastern European composers, he instinctively knew to adopt a free form and let his passions guide his baton. The approach works beautifully, whether in the alternating moods of Dvorak's most famous symphony, the ebb and flow of Smetana's beloved river, or the stormy life and transcendence of Liszt's life metaphor. The Symphony in particular is different, but at the end one feels that the interpretation is spot-on and fully validated. This is why I love Fricsay - he gets it right, even when he does it differently.

As stated before, the sound on the Symphony is slightly coarse, and it takes a few moments for the ear to adjust. Don't let this stop you - this is a performance of great stature, and well worth hearing repeatedly. The other two pieces sound fine, without any distortion, and the Moldau in particular is almost as good as a real whitewater rafting trip. For perfromances of all three pieces, this disc is front and center, great and stimulating music making.

This has to be considered one of the best 9ths out there, no question. But the sound will be a problem for some, and so that caveat should be offered. But for those who can get around such things--and I am always amazed at the number of listeners who cannot--true riches like in wait. By the way, one of the reviewers below said that Steven Ritter of the American Record Guide dissed this recording in the Third World "Listener's Companion to Classical Music". This is not true. Mr. Ritter wrote on Dvorak's choral music in that excellent guide. It was Mr. David Moore who did not like this recording.

There can't be too many recordings that earn a "perfect score" - all five stars - with, amongst others, Mssrs. Richman, VanSande and the "Santa Fe Listener" in the mix, but I have to score this one a tad lower. As beloved a figure as Fricsay was, he sometimes had a tendency to play around with tempi a bit too much, even in the revered Beethoven 9th. Here, in the "New World" the quintessential symphony of national romanticism, it doesn't quite come off. The first movement, played virtually "straight" works the best. The largo especially, and the finale, in contrast, are too slow, ponderous and with too many of those aforementioned adjustments. I own many of Fricsay's recordings, including the Eroica and the Beethoven 5th, both on vinyl, and while the sound of the BPO is stupendous and lush (pre the exclusive Karajan era) and the recordings themselves phenomenal the performances have always seemed to lack a certain degree of excitement. Only when Fricsay was willing to truly let go, as in the coda of the first movement of the New World (minus the ritards on the final chords), in the Moldau, and some sections of Les Preludes does this recording soar. But that shouldn't have been the reason for purchasing this CD. The best New World I've ever heard was a live performance by the NYPO, under Erich Leinsdorf, who simply got them to sound tonally refulgent, to play together, and kept strict tempos. As it is too often in Tchaikovsky, an overly romanticized approach to late 19th century "romantic" music may be just the opposite of what the music requires, and might be another example of the old dictum "play Beethoven like Chopin, and Chopin like Beethoven."

I came late to the party with this recording, which I hadn't run across until today. But now that I have, bravo! Fricsay is refreshingly spontaneous in this Dvorak Ninth from 1962, aided by very close-up and detailed miking of the orchestra. His free tempos in every movement take unexpected turns, and every phrase is shaped with energy and vibrancy. The sonics are fine in DG's remastering, although there's a hint of shatter and crunch in the loudest climaxes. It's a cliche to say that Hungarian conductors are fiery, but Fricsay certainly fits that description here, and the Berlin Phil. follow his lead with total commitment. All in all, a must-listen.

The second longest work here is Liszt's Les Preludes, performed with Fricsay's own orchestra, the Berlin Radio Sym. When he began recording with them just after the war, they were a bedraggled bunch, but Fricsay raised their standards year by year. They play ardently for him, although the strings aren't first rate, and his interpretation, which is gently lyrical and well shaped in the big tune, generates excitement without turning into a tub-thumper. I'd call it a totally winning performance.

The remainder of this generous Cd (70+ min.) is given over to The Moldau, again with the Berlin Phil. Fricsay conducts a swift reading--it starts out as a scramble--but gives the music such a buoyant lift that it's irresistible.