Lake–Suite, Op. 20; Waltzes from Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker;
Waltz from Eugen Onegin, Op. 24 – RIAS Symphony Orchestra Berlin
and Berlin Radio-Symphony Orchesta/Ferenc Fricsay
DGG 477 5480 79:30 (Distrib. Universal)*****:
Recorded 1952 and 1957, these stunning realizations of the music of
Tchaikovsky no less celebrate the splendid conducting art of Ferenc
Fricsay (1914-1963) whose post-WW II sensibility helped to revitalize
the Austro-Hungarian tradition he completely imbibed in the presence of
personalities like Furtwaengler, Karajan, and Knappertsbusch. A cross
between the modern, revisionist school of literal rendering of the
music and a strong, subjectivist stretching of the musical line,
Fricsay’s style often assumes a tragic and noble grandeur and eloquence
of line that is heroic in character. I recall having obtained my LP
incarnation of the 1957 Swan Lake excepts at Bremen House in New York,
and my having been completely swept away from the very opening notes
from strings, harp, and oboe to the absolutely panoramic vistas
attained by the trumpets and tympani. The sheer sensuality of phrase
that permeates the ballet excerpts and the 1952 F Minor Symphony
certainly hearken back to Furtwaengler, while the explosive impetus and
sudden distancing of the plastic line are not so far from the Mravinsky
granite quarry. That Fricsay had molded the respective radio-symphony
ensembles into responsive, precision instruments of the first rank
attests to a discipline no less refined than those of George Szell and
Fritz Reiner, without the whips. It seems to me that Fricsay and
Celibidache are the real kindred spirits here.
As part of DGG’s restorations of their 1950’s LP catalogue with the
original liner art, this all-Tchaikovsky program has a special place,
enjoying a sympathy of realization that can only impress lovers of this
music. There are too many individual touches and nuances of approach to
recount them all, but certainly the broad ritards and blazing cadences
in Swan Lake will evoke either delight or despair purists. The
consistently high level of tension and orchestral finesse in the F
Minor Symphony will recall equally bravura treatments by Markevitch,
but Fricsay’s ferocity belies the score’s balletic energies. Even the
ever-familiar Waltz of the Flowers has an urgency and breadth of
expression more in common with Stokowski than with any anemic
thin-lipped revisionist. I applaud each of the several opening salvos
in DGG’s restoration project; I could add many more if I were asked.
While I never award five stars to my listings, if John Sunier adds one
to this Fricsay restoration, I shant object.
–Gary Lemco
