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.
There is a "Producer's Comment" from producer Ludger Bockenhoff about this production available here.
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.
Burleske für Klavier und
Orchester d-Moll, TrV 145 20:06
1 Allegro vivace
Konzert für Oboe und
kleines Orchester D-Dur, TrV 292 24:20
2 I. Allegro moderato 8:17
3 II. Andante 8:47
4 III. Vivace – 4:32
5 Allegro 2:44
Duett-Concertino für Klarinette und Fagott mit Streichorchester und Harfe F-Dur, TrV 293 16:13
6 I. Allegro moderato 5:32
7 II. Andante 2:20
8 III. Rondo. Allegro ma non troppo 8:21
9 Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche
op. 28 TrV 171 14:21 |
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