fricsay aquisitions

[Jo498]

Because almost the whole page of the thread visible was filled with ramblings against the sound quality so I somehow felt obliged to defend them in that respect. Reiterating the point made by others above that even those wary of historical sound should usually have no big problems with the "Hifi mono" of his 1950s recordings.

The EMI Great conductor's volume is fairly disappointing, the Eroica almost falls apart and the stuff on the other disc is earlier and better but in comparably poor sound (e.g. Shosty #9).

It's been a while that I listened to most of that stuff as I have had them for many years but for some exception like the early Tchaikovsky Fricsay combines the clarity and drive from Toscanini (or Szell) with more "German/Central European" warmth and flexibility. At his best, this can be uniquely compelling, so I think there are still good reasons for listening to some of his recordings. But sometimes it also leads to for me slightly irritating "superpositions" of the "lean" and the "romantic" style, as I said, there seems to be not only a jarring difference in soundstage but to some extent in style between the slow adagio and the quick and lean finale of Beethoven's 9th but it is still one of my favorite recordings. (And one may add that in some of his late recordings there is sometimes very little of the drive and brilliance left, but still reasonable clarity.)

The German Mozart operas and Fidelio have actors in the dialogue (annoying but common at the time), Fidelio has also the problems I mentioned above but tremendous drive and great clarity. Of course, all this is repertoire with lots of good options but I think Zauberflöte and Entführung also still hold up very well. Like in some of the other famous 1950s Mozart opera recordings, the singers are not a bunch of random stars cast together but real "ensembles" who regularly performed together at the opera houses in Berlin or Vienna.

Of the symphony recordings my favorites are the mono 35 and 41, the mono 29 is almost too lean (and has thin sound) and driven whereas what I have heard of the late recordings (29,39-41, I have not heard the late 41) I found a little too slack and too slow although these recordings have been frequently re-issued on LP and CD and seems to be well-liked by many.

Of the lesser known 1940s-50s "moderns" Hartmann's 6th is great and the Liebermann pieces (Furioso and Suite on Swiss folksongs) are great fun, also Blacher's Paganini-Variations. As someone wrote above, Petrouchka and Le Sacre hold up very well in a crowded field despite restricted mono sound. It's a pity he never got to record the Symphony in C and other neoclassical Stravinsky (there is a symphony of Psalms but I did not like the sound quality of that one).

All Bartok and Kodaly is virtually self-recommending, expressive, idiomatic, authentic and in decent to good sound.

[prémont]

Because almost the whole page of the thread visible was filled with ramblings against the sound quality so I somehow felt obliged to defend them in that respect. Reiterating the point made by others above that even those wary of historical sound should usually have no big problems with the "Hifi mono" of his 1950s recordings.

I understand - and agree very much.