Cast
Ferenc Fricsay — Conductor
Program notes
Exceptional documents bring to us Ferenc Fricsay, the legendary Hungarian conductor who died too soon.
"My name is Ferenc Fricsay, I was born in Budapest in 1914, that tragic day the war started…" This presentation is typical of the manner of the Hungarian conductor Ferenc Fricsay, simple, direct and devoid of boastfulness. His father was the head of a brass band in the army, he was trained as a pianist and a composer at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest with Bartok and Kodaly as teachers, he held a first position from the age of 19 playing military music like his father and Ferenc Fricsay made his first steps towards becoming a legend among conductors by replacing Otto Klemperer at the Salzburg Festival in 1947.
This film presents exceptional documents showing him working with his orchestra on The Moldau by Smetana and The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Paul Dukas or answering with humour and wit to the questions of journalists. The conductor Antonio Pappano provides insightful comments on the way he conducted and the baritone Dietrich Fischer Dieskau evokes his memories of him. <.p>
A charismatic conductor, full of spirit and strength, Ferenc Fricsay endured from a very young age the illness he died of at 49. An early end that deprived the world of music of the masterpieces of his interpretations. "If he had lived longer, Fricsay would have been the first to be able to challenge Karajan's supremacy," claims Yehudi Menuhin, whom we see playing with the Hungarian conductor the Brahms Violin Concerto, "He was a brilliant mind and no one, neither the audience nor the musicians, could resist the strength of his conviction."
