Ferenc Fricsay Conducts The Moldau

[witherspoon1995]

3:20 absolutely sucks on a clarinet, 3#'s is not a fun time, although it's a good showoff piece

[beczikezike]

Thumbs up if one of the most beautiful movie, The Tree of Life brought you here

[Tacobellzer]

i dont even like these types of classical orchestras and i think this is a great peice. And btw yes i know it was written during the romantic period.

[Bruinscelticsandsox]

playing this in orchestra in SCHOOL :)

[groovehard]

Only an idiot could dis-like this recording. Outstanding Performance!

[banana4ever2000]

@longboardrock tu vas a college saint-anne?o.o

[banana4ever2000]

estii dmarde-.-'' 

[dobermuffin]

Thumbs up if that awful movie, The Tree of Life, didn't bring you here.

Music for music!

[nafene]

@dobermuffin I heard it once in Pargue at the concert fountain which changes lights and water according to the music :-) best at his own home :-)

[PeterJacksonSpain]

The Tree of Life!!!!! TERRENCE MALICK RULES!!

[Antigone1Evenstar]

I want to cry when I hear certain parts of this, it's just too beautiful to hear.

[marby]

The best recording of Moldau by far!!!! I cant believe people dislikes this? Smetana is a genius!

[engnrlady]

I LOVE this...and his direction, though I have little knowledge of such things, is so moving and involved to the extreme! Truly a masterpiece.]

[engnrlady]

I LOVE this...and his direction, though I have little knowledge of such things, is so moving and involved to the extreme! Truly a masterpiece.

[frattalta]

Excellente Ferens Fricsay , musique d' incroyable béauté ! Merci ANTONELLA

[schleusenmeister]

It's striking for us concertgoers nowadays to see a recording of an orchestra apparently comprised entirely of (mostly balding) middle-aged white males, except for the harpist! Anyway, this is a gem of a recording. Thanks for uploading it.

[jzinius]

This music always brings tears to my eyes. So incredibly moving!

[diduhear]

oh wtf people have separate musical opinions thats weird!

[Medysonball]

GO CZECH GO GO CZECH!!

[Bamchucknorris]

I love this piece... I play the tuba and was selected the tuba audition. Loved and will always love playing this with an orchestra.

[adhamfeteha]

I think Kubelik is no.1 for smetana.

[TheBassguitarking]

This is in the trailer for "The Tree of Life". I'm probably the only 17 year old who watched that trailer and said "aha, Smetana!"

[TheRealEyams]

@TheBassguitarking i did too. (: its ok.

[gaphoogys]

@TheBassguitarking i did too, and guess what i'm 17 years old too haha

[TheRealEyams]

@vertandi I agree with isusanszky. In many of Furtängler's interpretations, the clarity of the underlying viola/cello line accompanying the B theme is nowhere as clear. Furthermore, I noticed that the direction of the line in the clarinet and flute exchange at around 0:28 is much more driven than many interpretations found elsewhere. And no, I do not need a musical education, I have an ARCT certificate in Theory from the Royal Conservatory of Music.

[alexyuzwa]

This piece makes me miss playing the flute so much. It was my favorite piece of music when I was in high school.

[TheCircusAddicted]

Wonderful, Gorgeous, Amazing..

[jeniusjj]

Eargasm!

[AubriGryphon]

I love this piece so much.  The one thing I absolutely hate, though, is the big full-orchestra bird-splat at the very end, as if we needed a huge musical exclamation point to let us know it's over.

[BASSiclyBASSable]

@Sonikirby really what episode????!!

[Hikepark57]

First heard this in a music appreciation course, but hadn't heard it in years.

The hair on the back of my neck was standing up the final two minutes.

Beautiful and powerful

[Alchemist289]

It's not "my fatherland" its "my motherland" btw.. but i REALLY love this song

[TheVaccumtube]

Very touching performance, POWERFUL.

[FORD5000solo2001]

THE TREE OF LIFE, BITCH!!!

[nimalakers24]

how can someone dislike this

[Madthrillz]

AMAZING

[newFranzFerencLiszt]

After listening to this we can die happy

[richieleehong]

this is just absolutely fablous , the way Ferenc controls that entire orchestra and how smooth it sounds

+ the conductor looks like my JAP teacher

[richieleehong]

this is just absolutely fablous , the way Ferenc controls that entire orchestra and how smooth it sounds

[LSSRoshi]

Completely agree with phorsic, the tempo was a bit rushed. Don't know if it is the playback or the way it was played. Although, I love this piece, ever since music appreciation I learned to love a lot of music.

[phorsic]

The tempo is entirely inappropriate at the beginning and during the wedding scene--the rest of the interpretation is quite good, but when you move too quickly at these key moments, some of the musicality is lost, I think.

[ThemafiaMaestro]

This is the best interpretation of Smetana's "Die Moldau" that I've ever seen or heard. And I have conducted this piece before...I marvel at his control of the orchestral forces in this performance! Bravo, maestro!!

[goldenxninjaxchick]

My, what pure musical genius! :)

[zingelzingel]

gyönyörű!



[Hedahedoh]

Unsurpassed to this day, and it will remain so. For those who want to listen to the ultimate Don Giovanni, it's available on CD with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in the title role, Stader, Haefliger and Fricsay's great allies of the time.

Ferenc Fricsay is on top of the sad list of the most underrated conductors.

[londongirlGA]

この曲本当に素敵です。

[geysernut]

Fricsay's Vltava bounces down the mountainside joyfully, and then floods with abandon across the Czech countryside - I love it! This and guy and Kubelick get right to the heart of this great music.

[ancsibaba18]

Ez igen! Kitűnő!!!Csodálatosan játszanak, hiba nincs benne!!!Tökéletes, nekem ez az egyik legkedvesebb számom:)

[Antigone1Evenstar]

One of my favorite pieces ever. I absolutely love The Moldau, and this is an absolutely magnificent production. Almost makes me cry.

[nereuseng]

Bravo!!!

i touch from 8:36!!!

[ellandelachapelle]

The first conductor to conduct without a baton? We Swedes have always found it strange that this melody resembles our popular folk song "Ack Värmeland du sköna". Listen to Jussi Björling sing it (here on YouTube) and you´ll see what I mean! (actually Smetana lived 5 years in Sweden. I bet he heard this song. Which is almost like a second national anthem here.) And - it distinctly resembles the Israeli national anthem! (listen and compare.)

[w1cked001]

@ellandelachapelle I remember reading somewhere that both Hatikvah (Israel) and The Moldau are derivatives of an Italian tune.

[roose468]

love it! Bedřich truly was a genius-he´s one of the few people Czech Republic can be really proud of...

[roberttiso]

Thanks for the wonderful upload.!!

[Duenderelojero]

So Beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Syllbaba]

One of my favourite pices ever. Never heard this version before. Kinda nice, although a bit too... tense (?) and maybe a bit too quick for my taste.

[aftereight01]

Wow. Not one woman in the bunch.

[ShiftingStars]

i heard this in music class and fell in love with it! amazing . . . its like a river

[npadul30]

It is about a river, you should read the entire story its very intresting. Roughly, it is about the start of a river and it flows past many things like a party, and a wedding, and a funeral. Then finally it finds it way back to the Ocean.

[strapaty44]

@ShiftingStars This is Czech composition which names Vltava and Vltava is beautiful Czech river in Czech capital Prague. I am very proud to be Czech :)

[wywyman]

@ShiftingStars That's funny, because Smetana composed this to sound like a ride down a river (the Moldau river in fact). So I take it he succeeded in his attempt.

[3Twinkiezandadumplin]

I'm playing a part of this song in my orchestra! I completely love this song! The first time I heard this song, played it on my cello, I fell in love with it! This song is just so gorgeous beyond words.

[swizzle2012]

are you in CYS?

[MrReaper9]

yes, but we aren't playing this 100% complete song. =/

[Canonindxxx]

He's one soulful conductor

[Rongart]

gefällt mir, dass Ferenc Fricsay (wie Herman Scherchen, Hans Eisler und einige andere) ohne Taktstock dirigiert!

[queylahs]

Ich stimme zu

[ThePiscean60]

you can see and hear he really inspires the orchestra- there's a high spirit and tone you don't always hear with other versions- he's almost dancing!

And they feel his spirit and respond in kind-

thankyou for this

cheers to all-

[paulduongviet]

FANTASTIC!

Phung, Vietnam

[GoldenAmethyst]

I'm literally gobsmacked!! This man was a genius, the way he controlled his orchestra with such power in his hands!! Masterful, yet gentle!! I adored watching his facial expressions - they tell you how much he must have loved this music!! I had never heard of this piece or Fricsay until someone recommended it in a fanfic and now I can't thank them enough! A beautiful piece of music that stirs & awakens the soul!! Thank you for sharing this wonderful piece of divine pleasure!!

[SolidarityKnight]

gorgeous and touching......excellent

[ClaudiaChristina]

At the time of this recording in 1960 with the Stuttgarter Sinfonieorchestra, Fricsay was already fatally ill. In a few scenes he talkes about "Má vlast" - thrilling! He tells the musicians not how to play, but how to feel... he didn't have to explain much. They understood right away. Then his comment to the part, where the little fount arises... coming into life in spring, happy to live. Fricsay looked at the orchestra, sighed and said: "Yes, life is wonderful". This impressed me strongly.

[SoundsoftheEuropeans]

Thank you very much for uploading this!

[isusanszky]

this is absolutely fabulous. I've heard a couple of versions of this particular work (karajan, furtwangler, toscanini - and a number of not-so-well-known-others), and I must say that Fricsay beats all of them easily.

you do not get this kind of vivid interpretation which simply reeks of life and joy. we are very lucky, to be able to have this one aruond for eternity.

[Jorgenmus]

I totally agree. Fricsay is one of my favourite conductors from the past. Remember his excellent recording of Smetana's "Moldau" on DG together with Dvorak's Symphony No. 9.

[Nachtmarchen]

The only one who matches this interpretation is Talich, though Ancerl comes very, very close as well.

[vertandi]

@isusanszky I sharply disagree. A very mediocre performance, soft mainstream without any meaning. Any third class province orchestra does it the same way. Much to fast, no details, no understanding of the structure. It sounds like a military band playing for the saturday evening show for uneducated masses in TV. If you compare that to Furtwängler (ridiculous, to be polite), you are in complete need of a musical education.

[Nai61a]

@vertandi I suggest you watch the rehearsals for this - available on YT - & I hope you will revise your opinion. Furtwangler has his supporters & I would not be stupid enough to dismiss him, but he is grotesquely overrated. Your intemperate criticism of Fricsay's fine work here is, fortunately, not shared by the majority of listeners. By the way, I would assume that the vast majority of people who take the trouble to seek out & listen to this are not necessarily in need of a musical education.

[vertandi]

@Nai61a In any demanding subject, the majority vote is nonsense. Would you ask ordinary people to judge by majority vote on quantum physics or relativty? Would you have the passengers in an aircraft of a leisure carrier let vote on how the captain responds to a critical engine failure? Or can 10 nurses tell the medical professor how to do his surgery? Only in the web, everybody without any qualification thinks he/she may judge on everything "by majority". Really, a queer world.

[Nai61a]

@vertandi As a matter of fact, I agree with you about the tyranny of majorities & the unreliability of the majority vote in cases where expert knowledge is implicated and required. However, I think the arts can be an exception when it is a matter of subjective perception & opinion, even when that opinion is - or could be - ill-informed. (Cont ...)

[Nai61a]

@vti I wasn't suggesting that the majority trumped you because they are in the majority, merely that in this particular case your personal taste isn't shared by others who commented; make of that what you will. &, whilst I agree about the web being a sounding board for all kinds of loonies (by my own, personal definition), where questions of taste & opinion are concerned, everybody can, & does, have a view. The fact that I'm a highly educated musician who disagrees with you is a case in point.

[bogdandyt]

He was an excellent Hungarian conductor, who lived in abroad, so less known in Hungary.

[majojebau]

gracias andrea aziani por enseñarnos a querer la vida tu amigo juan bautista no te olvidará jamas.

[armandfl]

Did he always conduct without a baton?

[pidgita]

look at his arms + hands... powerfull ! He need nothing else...

[oakwoodbank]

I don't know but in this piece he is far more communicative with his hands than he could be with a baton.

I have not seen him before but I do think this is one of the best recordings I have heard/seen of Moldau.

[kirsij3]

Kaunis kiitos!

[gzznng]

wonderful, moving, exceptional, unrepeatable, perfect: Thank you Ferenc!!!

[pidgita]

Ferenc Fricsay echte Kunst + Leidenschaft mit den Berlinern Philharmonikern: absolut großartig !

[S0NNABEND]

Wonderful! Thank you for posting this.