Customer Reviews

Ferenc Fricsay: A Life in Music [Box Set]

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Now that Deutsche Grammophon is part of Universal, we have seen some interesting things happen, and not all of them bad. What I'm referring to in this case is the new "Original Masters" Limited Edition Box Set series. Finally, the classical music world has taken a page out of the jazz reissue handbook -- put out a quality product featuring rare recordings but make its availability limited, and people will snatch it up.

Now in its second round of the "Original Masters" box sets, DG has chosen to follow-up on the success of the "Great Conductors of the Century" series. They have just released two glorious 9-disc collections of the performances of conductors Ferenc Fricsay and Igor Markevitch, the vast majority of which have been previously unavailable on CD.

This particular set, "A Life in Music," showcases some of the numerous recordings made by the great conductor Ferenc Fricsay for Deutsche Grammophon, many of which have been rare (and expensive) collector's items for years. As the track information is non-existent above, I will try to be of assistance.

The first disc contains Beethoven's 1st Symphony (1953) and the Overture and Incidental Music to Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream (1950) both with the Berlin Philharmonic (BP), and Prokofiev's 1st Symphony with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (BRSO) from 1954.

Disc two features Mahler's Ruckert-Lieder with Maureen Forrester (BRSO, 1958), and Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony (BRSO, 1959).

Discs three begins with Respighi's orchestration of Rossini's La Boutique Fantasque (BRSO, 1955) and ends with Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade (BRSO, 1956).

Disc four features the great Waltzes, Polkas, Overtures and Marches of the Strauss Family (all with BRSO from 1949-52). Included here are The Blue Danube, Vienna Blood, Musical Joke, Pizzicato-Polka, Die Fledermaus, The Gypsy Baron, Voices of Spring, Roses from the South, Morning Papers, Annen-Polka, Chit-Chat Polka, and the Radzetky March.

Disc five focuses on Fricsay as an accompanist with pianist Margrit Weber (and the BRSO). Together they tackle Falla's Nights in the Garden of Spain (1957), Francaix's (1956) and Honegger's (1955) Concertos for Piano, Franck's Symphonic Variations (1957) and Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (1960).

Disc six shines the spotlight on 20th Century composers. Here we get Von Einem's Zwischenspiel Interlude (1949), Hindemith's Symphonic Dances (1950), Hartmann's 6th Symphony (1955), and Martin's Petite Symphonie Concertante (1950), with Gerty Herzog on piano, Sylvia Kidd on harpsichord and Irmgard Helmis on harp.

On discs seven and eight, Fricsay performs a memorable account of Haydn's The Seasons. This is a live recording with the Berlin RSO from 1961 featuring soprano Maria Stader, tenor Ernst Haefliger, bass Josef Greindl and the St. Hedwigs Cathedral Choir, Berlin.

The final disc, number nine, wraps things up with "Ferenc Fricsay: A Life Retold," a 57-miunte interview complete with excerpts of memorable performances.

Despite the fact that most of these recordings are in mono (only the selections on disc two, and the Paganini Rhapsody are in stereo), the first rate performances more than compensate for any audio shortcomings. Well, I guess the consolidation of the music industry isn't so bad after all, as long as I can look forward to more reissues like Ferenc Fricsay: A Life in Music.

"Ferenc Fricsay: A Life in Music" consists mostly of top notch 1950s mono recordings in excellent sound, from DG's back catalog. I knew of Ferenc Fricsay (1914-1963) mostly from his recording of Bartok's Piano Concertos 1,2,and 3 with pianist Geza Anda. Fricsay also recorded Mozart's operas "Don Giovanni" and "Die Zauberflote", both with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in the cast for DG; also Beethoven's 9th Symphony; Bartok's "Concerto for Orchestra", and "Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta", all for DG. Fricsay did not live a long time, dying at age 48 from cancer, but he made alot of recordings from 1949 until his death in 1963, many of them sadly hidden in DG's vaults for decades.

DG has given the public a great release with this 9 disc set of Fricsay recordings, mostly in mono, but excellent sound. Do not be afraid of the mono sound: it is very clear and balanced, in many cases better than many stereo and even digital recordings made more recently. Included are Beethoven's Symphony 1; Mendelssohn's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" with the vocal duets included; Prokofiev's "Classical" Symphony; Franck's Symphonic variations and Rachmaninoff Paganini Variations with Swiss pianist Margrit Weber; Haydn's "The Seasons" (complete, live performance with Maria Stader, Ernst Haeflinger, and Joseph Greindl); works of Falla, Francaix, Hindemith, Frank Martin, Hartmann, and others. There is a wide variety of music and you will not be disappointed.

Most of these recordings are with the RIAS Symphony Orchestra of Berlin, which Fricsay conducted for the majority of his conducting career. The RIAS orchestra was "Radio in the American sector" of Berlin, a part of West Berlin during the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. Some tracks are with the Berlin Philharmonic, others with the Berlin Radio Orchestra. In all cases, the orchestras play very well, responding with great precision to every nuance of Fricsay's direction.

I believe Fricsay would have wider recognition had he lived longer. He was roughly a contemporary of Karajan, Solti, Giulini, and Bernstein, and is sadly underrated today. Perhaps this collection will help to boost his reputation with a new generation of music lovers born after his time. Highly recommended.

Some two years after Mr. Richman posted his review, I wish only to support his high rating of these masterful performances by one of the greatest conductors of the mid-twentieth century. These recordings are gifts of grace. The fact that this collection remains available is little short of a miracle. And in addition thre is a Fricsay set in the series of "Great Conductors of the 20th Century" also still available. Many other recordings of performances under the baton of Ferenc Fricsay are to be found if one searches under his name on Amazon. His recordings of Verdi's Requiem and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony on DG remain among the greatest ever made of either of these two eternal masterpieces.

Try the $12.00 2CD "great Conductors" set first. At that price you can't lose. I predict that having heard those recordings you will quickly seek out and purchase "Ferenc Fricsay, A Life in Music." Too expensive? Not at all. It's worth every penny. It's easily worth several months of anyone's budget for buying CDs. And the recorded interview with Fricsay, already ill and seemingly knowing his death is approaching, will inspire you even as it breaks your heart. His death as he approached his 49th birthday was an incalculable loss to the Western classical tradition. Yet we do have the recordings -- go and listen to them!

This 9 CD-Box set devoted to the great Hungarian-born conductor Ferenc Fricsay (1914-1963) is a jewel of the `Original Masters' series. It contains many Fricsay rarities not available elsewhere: some items rank among the best versions in the discography of the corresponding pieces. Fricsay had an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon and made a lot of extremely successful studio recordings between 1947 and 1961, most of them done with RIAS/Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin and Berliner Philharmoniker. The fact that many of them were later removed from the list has nothing to do with their artistic quality: Fricsay's successor with DG, Herr von K, who controlled the market in 1960-1970s, probably did not want any concurrence with his own production.

Fricsay's name is firmly associated with Bartok Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra / Fricsay and Mozart Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 29, 39-41 Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail, though his recordings of Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Verdi are equally great. This selection offers no pieces by Bartok or Mozart. Neither can you find here any performance with Fricsay's most prominent concert partner, his compatriot Geza Anda (see their seminal recording of Bartok piano concertos Bartok: The Piano Concertos / Anda, Fricsay, Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin). If one listens to music from this set, Fricsay's greatness comes to light from the fact how easily he could adapt to different music styles - from Felix Mendelssohn to Karl Amadeus Hartmann and Sergei Prokofiev, from Johann Strauss's waltzer to Tchaikovsky's 6th Symphony. If I were to mention just two features of Fricsay's conducting style, I would mention his astounding rhythmic control and dramatic conceptions. Fricsay's manner changed after an oncological illness in the mid 1950s and his tempi grew more heavily laden. Personally, I find all recordings from this sampler convincing, be they on the light or on the dark side.

Mr. Richman already listed the program, so I can only add a few details and subjective impressions. To me, the highest points of the whole set are 1) Mendelssohn's music to the `Midsummer Night's Dream' (CD 1), 2) Tchaikovsky's 6th symphony (CD 2), 3) Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (CD 6) 4) Fricsay's autobiography `Erzähltes Leben' (CD 9). However, I would not like to stay without any other recording from this set, possibly except for Haydn's `Jahreszeiten' (CD 7-8) - but it is one of the very last recordings of the conductor, and is a unique live document.

Mendelssohn is really enchanting. I am less touched by the Wedding March, but the scherzos are irresistible - transparent and seductive. The version of Tchaikovsky's 6th symphony included here was recorded by Fricsay in September 1959. It is surely one of the boldest and most powerful accounts of the "Pathétique" symphony on record - not an imitation or a study in pompous Romantic style, but a personal tragedy felt from within. I know only a few versions which stand a comparison with this one - two variants with Furtwaengler and two other variants with Fricsay - an earlier studio version taken in July 1953 w. Berlin PO and a live recording with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks taken on 24 Nov 1960 in Muenchen. In the Muenchen version Béla Bartók: Klavierkonzert Nr. III; Tschaikowsky: Symphony Nr. VI the first movement of the "Pathétique" symphony is even more expressive, but the final movement, the horrendous Adagio Lamentoso is better here: the word `better' is not quite appropriate where it refers to two large-scale variants of a life epilogue left by a conductor who already knew his own fate...

Rachmaninov Paganini-Rhapsody Op. 43 (rec. 1960) is simply a stunner. I could never imagine that I would be so captured by this work in the absence of a great pianist. Margit Weber engaged by Fricsay here is no Rachmaninov, Moiseiwitsch or Richter, though she is playing fine and produces a nice sound. The main ideas and the driving force come from the conductor: the virtuoso piano part is woven in the overall orchestral textures rather than opposed to it in a manner of XIX century romantic concertos. Of course, this is a modern and a very extremist reading of Rachmaninov's score, which is seen in all devices Fricsay applies to -- sharp syncopated rhythms, marked accents, flexible tempi, unusual timbres from the string and the brass sections, at times percussive effects of the piano itself. Certainly, only a very convinced conductor with an absolute command of XX century music could venture such a risky interpretation: it lies worlds far from Stokowski's standard set together with Rachmaninov (1934) Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos No. 1 & No. 4. A grim smile of a genius. Or of two genii - Rachmaninov and Fricsay.

A few tips for those collectionists, who are looking for other Fricsay's recordings on DG and related labels: apart from CDs already mentioned by the fellow reviewers, there is a tremendous studio `Bluebeard's Castle' with Fi-Di and Hertha Toepper Bartok: Bluebeard's Castle/Cantata Profana, two amazing accounts of Verdi's Requiem Verdi: Requiem / Ferenc Fricsay and Guiseppe Verdi: Messa Da Requiem; Gioacchino Rossini: Stabat Mater (both ones with Maria Stader), a 2CD set with Haydn symphonies, Stravinsky's `Le Sacre du Printemps' Igor Strawinsky: Le Sacre du Printemps, a Dvorak/Smetana/Liszt CD including the best `Vltava' tone poem I know Dvorák: Symphonie No. 9 "From the New World"; Smetana: Die Moldau; Liszt: Les Préludes [Australia], two different but equally impressive versions of Beethoven's 3d Symphony (the late variant can be found inFerenc Fricsay and two stunning opera recordings of Verdi and Wagner - `Rigoletto' Giuseppe Verdi: Rigoletto and `The Flying Dutchman' Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer(both with an extraordinary singer, bass-baritone Josef Metternich in the title role).

I want to conclude my review by quoting a story told by Fricsay on CD 9 about an older colleague of his, distinguished conductor Leo Blech. After Fricsay got an appointment in Berlin, Leo Blech told him: `I won't go to your concerts. If you are really so great as people say, I'll be disturbed that I cannot reach your level. And if you NOT as great, I'll be annoyed that you don't fit the requirements of your position'.
Don't follow the footsteps of Dr. Leo Blech and listen to this CD-set!