Ferenc Fricsay was born in Budapest, where he studied music under Bela Bartok, Zoltan Kodaly and Ernst von Dohnanyi.
He was musical director of the German RIAN Symphony Orchestra, and excellent recordings of the work of Bartok are available on CD.
He also worked for Deutsche Grammphon, recording the works of Beethoven. He conducted the first stereo recording of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.
Fricsay had health problems throughout his life, and succumbed to cancer at the age of 49.
His recordings of Bartok are nothing if not masterful, and his interpretations of Beethoven are an excellent counterpoint to those of others.
Advertisement
