Catalogue | Orchestra

Edition Ferenc Fricsay (VI) – L. v. Beethoven: Symphonies No. 7 & No. 8, Leonore Ouverture No. 3

• Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92
• I. Poco sostenuto – Vivace (11:44)  
• II. Allegretto (08:12)  
• III. Presto (07:34)  
• IV. Allegro con brio (07:02)  

• Symphony No. 8 in F major, Op. 93
• I. Allegro vivace e con brio (10:04)  
• II. Allegretto scherzando (04:00)  
• III. Tempo di Minuetto (04:44)  
• IV. Allegro vivace (07:49)  

• Leonore Overture No. 3 in C minor, Op. 72
• Adagio (03:28)  
• Allegro (04:19)  
• Tempo I (06:24)  

Aged 34, Ferenc Fricsay conducted the RIAS Symphony Orchestra for the first time and was immediately contracted as Chief Conductor. In only a few years, rehearsing unrelentingly, he transformed the orchestra into an internationally renowned, top-class ensemble.

The Beethoven recordings were made towards the end of Fricsay’s first engagement with the RIAS; they show orchestra and conductor at the height of their collaboration. The virtuosity and precision of the orchestra’s performance in all sections makes the ensemble the ideal medium for Fricsay’s uncompromising interpretations. The recordings revive Fricsay’s music-making in its dazzling modernity – music-making which was unheard of and hugely influential around 1950, and whose consequence is fascinating even today.

There is a “Producer’s Comment” from producer Ludger Böckenhoff about this production avalaible.

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 cannot be compared with these.