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Ferenc Fricsay seldom pursued the œuvre of the late-romantic sound magician Richard Strauss. Though when he did conduct Strauss, he preferred the rarities, the late works or the burlesque repertoire. In doing so, he offered astonishing insights, as can be heard in these four recordings with the RIAS Symphony Orchestra: Strauss brushed against the grain. more
"Die Intensität, mit der Fricsays RIAS-Symphonie-Orchester musiziert, wirkt schlichtweg packend, der Klang ist straff und elastisch. Ein Wunderwerk geistreicher Ironie!" (Audio)
Track List
This bonus track is only available as a download!
Details
Ferenc Fricsay conducts Richard Strauss | |
article number: | 95.604 |
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EAN barcode: | 4022143956040 |
price group: | BCB |
release date: | 8. June 2018 |
total time: | 90 min. |
Bonus Material
Informationen
The Hungarian conductor Ferenc Fricsay was considered to be the man for modernism when, in 1948, he was appointed Chief Conductor of the RIAS Symphony Orchestra that had just recently been founded. Thus it was only logical for him to focus on the latest works by Richard Strauss: the Oboe concerto and the Duet concertino for clarinet, bassoon and strings, both of which the composer created after World War II. Despite their retrospective musical language, these pieces at that time belonged to the most topical works of contemporary music production. Also, the small instrumentation presented the opportunity for Fricsay to train the soloistic potential of his musicians. The remarkable level that Fricsay, in such a short time, was able to guide his young orchestra to is also to be heard in the recordings of Till Eulenspiegel and the Burleske where Fricsay's unsentimental, anti-romantic interpretation is astonishing.
The production is part of our series „Legendary Recordings" and bears the quality feature „1st Master Release". This term stands for the excellent quality of archival productions at audite. For all historical publications at audite are based, without exception, on the original tapes from broadcasting archives. In general these are the original analogue tapes, which attain an astonishingly high quality, even measured by today's standards, with their tape speed of up to 76 cm/sec. The remastering - professionally competent and sensitively applied - also uncovers previously hidden details of the interpretations. Thus, a sound of superior quality results. CD publications based on private recordings from broadcasts or old shellac records cannot be compared with these.
As an additional track, Don Juan is available to purchase as download: it allows the fascinating comparison with the work's recording by Kirill Karabits and the Staatskapelle Weimar.
Reviews
Classica | Numéro 210 - Mars 2019 | Yannick Millon | March 1, 2019
Les Strauss de Fricsay, si fins et mozartiens, à l’image du compositeur à la baguette, n’ont quoi qu’il en soit par pris la moindre ride (un Till génialement corrosif, sans doute dans le trio de tête de la discographie). Sentiment tout aussi valable pour la collaboration avec Margrit Weber dans une Burleske peu ébouriffante techniquement mais parmi les plus tendres, où l’on oubliera vite les débuts un peu incertains de la bande, en dépit d’une prise de son très satisfaisante comme dans l’en-semble de cette anthologie.Mehr lesen
Fanfare | December 2018 | Barnaby Rayfield | December 1, 2018
Lauded for his taut and lean Mozart and pioneering recordings of Bartók and Kodály, Ferenc Fricsay is not a name one associates with RichardMehr lesen
Fricsay mentored the young Swiss pianist Margrit Weber, and their 1951 performance (on DG) of Strauss’s busy, thorny “piano concerto,” Burleske is endearingly warm-hearted if sober and unvirtuosic. Audite’s account from four years later with the same team is a very different animal. Brisker, brighter, and keener toned, Weber still lacks the fingerwork for Strauss’s climatic moments but she is otherwise splashy and reflective. Fricsay’s accompaniment is lean, gleaming, and transparent, and in those intervening years recording quality could finally do justice to the RIAS strings. DG’s Burleske is a dusty relic by comparison.
Leon Goossens, who gave the UK premiere of the oboe concerto, makes a rare appearance with this Berlin ensemble. Closely recorded, Goossens and Fricsay don’t overplay the chamber aspects of this overtly light and classical-sounding oboe concerto. Despite the interconnected movements and melodic echoes of Strauss’s operatic writing, Fricsay’s expertise in Mozart comes to the fore here.
Recorded on April 20, 1953, Strauss’s little known Duet concertino is the identical performance on both DG and Audite, although the latter’s remastering is brighter and more forward. Charmingly played by Heinrich Geuser and Willi Fugmann, Fricsay’s fights a good case for this slight, late period work. On grander, better-known territory, Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche dates from roughly a month after his studio recording for DG, clearly benefiting from all that time spent in the studio. Timing and phrasing are virtually identical, so there are no revelations other than both performances being punchy, playful with shattering climaxes. Fricsay is never afraid to accentuate the theatricality of these tone poems, obtaining colorful, strongly contoured playing from all sections. It’s a terrific end to this collection.
The sound is mono, of course, and in-your-face-close and spotlit. I personally love that sort of “pop record” sound quality, but hi-fi fetishists won’t have read this far anyway. Expect some tape hiss and chalky decay on headphones; otherwise these performances leap out of the speaker. Generously filled as it is, Audite also point you to Fricsay’s spirited version of Don Juan online, which I think is identical to that in the DG box. We Fricsay fans are being spoilt with what is commercially a historical and niche product. Like so much of his work, this disc is so bracingly modern and fresh sounding that my plea is for younger record buyers to sample this and understand that modern performance practice didn’t begin with John Eliot Gardiner. There’s no affected Munich tradition or sentiment: This is Richard Strauss scrubbed clean and placed under the spotlight, with only the recording technology belying the age of these radio tapes. A thrilling album.
Diapason | N° 673 - Novembre 2018 | Hugues Mousseau | November 1, 2018
Ferenc Fricsay a fort peu dirigé la musique de Richard Strauss. Le programme du présent CD recoupe, pour l’essentiel, ce que le chef hongroisMehr lesen
Absent jusqu ’ici de la discographie de Fricsay, le Concerto pour hautbois de 1949 est une pépite d’autant plus précieuse qu’on y retrouve Léon Goossens (1897-1988), star du London Philharmonic en ses glorieuses années Beecham, qui avait gravé l’œuvre de manière inoubliable avec Galliera deux ans auparavant.
Du Concertino pour clarinette et basson, Audite reprend simplement l’enregistrement officiel d’avril 1953. Servi notamment par Heinrich Geuser, légendaire clarinettiste solo du RIAS, il ne lui manque qu’un supplément de finition pour égaler tout à fait la version Kempe/Dresde. Le Till l’Espiègle qui referme l’album provient d’un concert donné au Titania-Palast en février 1952. Par rapport à la ravageuse version studio de 1950 avec les Berliner Philharmoniker, on perd légèrement en qualité instrumentale, sans pour autant gagner en spontanéité. Mais l’adrénaline propre au live est bien palpable. Magnifiques documents, qui s’adressent aux fanas du chef hongrois.
hifi & records | 4/2018 | Uwe Steiner | October 1, 2018
Kaum ein Label erschließt die Wunderkammern der Rundfunkarchive mit einer derart glücklichen Hand wie Audite in Detmold. Zudem bieten Ludger Böckenhoffs Kommentare noch manch erhellende Einsicht in das Geschäft des sorgfältig restaurierenden Produzenten. Mehr lesen
Classical CD Choice | August 27, 2018 | Barry Forshaw | August 27, 2018 | source: http://www.cdcho... Leonard Bernstein, John Williams and a rediscovered female composer
Although inevitably the age of the recordings accords everything a somewhat constricted aural picture, the performances blaze out with conviction and remind us what a great interpreter of Strauss Fricsay was.Mehr lesen
Audio | 8/2018 | Otto Paul Burkhardt | August 1, 2018 Sinfonik: Richard Strauss
Zum Klangzauber eines Richard Strauss ging er auf Distanz: Nur fünf von dessen Werken hat Ferenc Fricsay je eingespielt. Die gibt's jetzt wieder –Mehr lesen
Audiophile Audition | Jul 5, 2018 | Gary Lemco | July 5, 2018 | source: https://www.auda...
This may well become your preferred reading of a long “familiar” score.Mehr lesen
www.pizzicato.lu
| 01/07/2018 | Remy Franck | July 1, 2018 | source: https://www.pizz...
Notizbuch eines Rezensenten – CD-Kurzrezensionen von Remy Franck (Folge 201)
Wichtiges Fricsay-Dokument
Dem ungarischen Dirigenten Ferenc Fricsay, der 1948 zum Chefdirigenten des kurz zuvor gegründeten RIAS-Symphonie-Orchesters berufen wurde, widmetMehr lesen
Der neue Merker | 01.07.2018 | Dr. Ingobert Waltenberger | July 1, 2018 | source: https://onlineme... Strauss-Raritäten mit dem legendären ungarischen Maestro auf Basis sorgfältig überarbeiteter Originalbänder zu hören
[Es] fallen besonders die heute von vielen Interpreten idealisierte Transparenz im Klang und eine wie besessene Detailarbeit auf.Mehr lesen
www.opusklassiek.nl | juni 2018 | Aart van der Wal | June 1, 2018 | source: https://www.opus...
de uitvoeringen zijn dat meer dan waard. De vier solisten behoorden in hun tijd tot de beste musici die voorhanden waren.Mehr lesen
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Lauded for his taut and lean Mozart and pioneering recordings of Bartók and...
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Leonard Bernstein, John Williams and a rediscovered female composer
Kaum ein Label erschließt die Wunderkammern der Rundfunkarchive mit einer...
Strauss-Raritäten mit dem legendären ungarischen Maestro auf Basis sorgfältig überarbeiteter Originalbänder zu hören
Notizbuch eines Rezensenten – CD-Kurzrezensionen von Remy Franck (Folge 201)
Audite heeft weer eens een album uitgebracht van de grote, zo niet tevens...