Catalogue | Orchestra

Edition Ferenc Fricsay (XII) – J. Strauss: Walzer • Polkas

• An der schönen, blauen Donau – Walzer op. 314 (09:26)  
• Das Spitzentuch der Königin – Ouvertüre o. op. (08:16)  
• Die Fledermaus – Tik-Tak. Polka schnell, op. 365 (02:39)  
• Eine Nacht in Venedig – Lagunen-Walzer op. 411 (07:58)  
• Frühlingsstimmen – Walzer op. 410 (07:04)  
• Kaiser-Walzer op. 437 (11:33)  
• Künstler-Leben – Walzer op. 316 (09:54)  
• Leichtes Blut – Polka schnell op. 319 (02:33)  
• Perpetuum mobile – Musikalischer Scherz op. 257 (03:05)  
• Pizzicato-Polka o. op. (02:32)  
• Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka op. 214 (02:31)  

Ferenc Fricsay's love of the waltzes by Johann Strauss II exemplifies his opinion that there is no difference between “popular” and “serious” music but, if needs be, between good and bad music. Thanks to his own musical education and his first post as conductor of a military band in Szeged, he was very familiar with the repertoire and the musical world of 19th century Vienna. When the 34-year-old was called to post-war Berlin in order to help rebuild musical life in the western part of the destroyed city as director of the newly founded RIAS Symphony Orchestra, he passionately performed the music of Strauss from the outset. This is also documented by his ravishing recording of Die Fledermaus.
This CD presents a representative cross-section of the most beautiful and famous waltzes and polkas by Strauss recorded between 1950 and 1952, issued here for the first time. In these, not only do Fricsay’s (in)famously precise rehearsal methods become perceptible but also his unique talent of improvisation, i.e. an art of interpretation where the highest degree of precision becomes completely natural, and spontaneous, music-making.

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

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.