Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 9,7,5,3 by Ferenc Fricsay (2022-25 Remastered, Berlin 1958-1962)

“My name is Ferenc Fricsay. I was born in Budapest in 1914, on the tragic day the war broke out…”

A charismatic conductor, full of fire and power, Ferenc Fricsay (1914–1963) faced illness at a young age, which claimed his life at 49. His premature death deprived music of the masterpieces his interpretations might have given us. “Had he lived, Fricsay would have been the first to challenge Karajan’s supremacy,” said Yehudi Menuhin, who can be seen performing Brahms’s Violin Concerto under the Hungarian conductor. “He had a brilliant mind, and no one—neither the audience nor the musicians—could resist the force of his conviction.”

From this nearly complete cycle, the Ninth Symphony (1958) stands as his absolute masterpiece, closely followed by the Third (1959) and Seventh (1960), both among the finest ever recorded. His latest recording, the Fifth (1962)—made a year before his death—is slower than what our ears are accustomed to, yet it fully deserves our attention. This gradual slowing of tempo is likely linked to the progression of his illness. The recordings themselves are very fine, but the results achieved through our remastering process are beyond comparison with the originals, which had aged poorly due to early digital transfers that lacked depth in the midrange and bass.