CD5/2009
Hungarian State Symphony Orchestra
János Ferencsik
The Royal Festival Hall, London
Recording: 26th February 1966
Audiophile Audition
“…a thoroughly sympathetic reading from Ferencsik … The huge orchestral tuttis impress us with their singing intensity … Tumultuous applause [from] a slightly hysterical mob of Londoners who thought this concert a smashing success.” [Rating ★★★★]
—Gary Lemco, Audiophile Audition, 4th November 2009
MusicWeb International
“…the recorded clarity allows us to hear the wind playing with unchilly brilliance, as well as the Hungarian warmth of the strings … A considerable amount of panache is on display … there is a palpable sense of engagement […] captured with immediacy by the splendidly consistent and clarity-conscious recording set up.”
—Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International, February 2010
“I always comment on the OCCD recording quality as being clear and alive in these simple and immediate twin-microphone recordings … Once again Geoffrey Terry has achieved his aim to preserve live music making ‘for the record’, as one might say. Without these efforts a lot of excellent performances would be only memories.”
—Dave Billinge, MusicWeb International, August 2018
Fanfare
“This is also one of the very few performances I’ve heard that catches the [Kodály’s] humorous edge, rather than just its color … [A] complete live concert more than worth the price of admission was caught in fine sound; and we are the beneficiaries. Definitely recommended.”
—Barry Brenesal, Fanfare 33:5, May/June 2010
International Record Review
“While the superbly idiomatic Dances of Galánta are an undoubted highlight here, the Egmont and Brahms C minor Symphony are both readings of genuine stature – strongly projected, fine-grained and captured in some of the best sound of any of the discs here – it’s quite astonishingly lifelike.”
—Nigel Simeone, International Record Review, June 2012
Customer review
“[I]t’s an astounding disc from start to finish … I am utterly astounded at the pristine, natural sound that you were able to achieve [with only two microphones… how can that be?]; each portion of the orchestra sounds out clearly… and when we need amplified tympani in the first movement of the Brahms symphony… somehow we get it [without any artificial studio tinkering]! Ultimately, then, you are owed yet another ‘bravo’ for an outstanding achievement.”
—Sean O’Neill, American Midwest, private correspondence, 20th June 2020
| Track listing | Time | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ludwig van Beethoven: Egmont Overture, op 84 | 8' 50" |
| 2 | Zoltán Kodály: Dances of Galánta† | 15' 11" |
| Johannes Brahms: Symphony no 1 in C minor, op 68 | 42' 38" | |
| 3 | I Un poco sostenuto – Allegro – Meno allegro* | 13' 00" |
| 4 | II Andante sostenuto | 8' 51" |
| 5 | III Un poco allegretto e grazioso | 4' 39" |
| 6 | IV Adagio – Più andante – Allegro non troppo – Più allegro | 16' 08" |
| 7 | Hector Berlioz: Rákóczy March (from The Damnation of Faust) | 4' 32" |
| Total time: | 71' 11" | |
*Sample extract (control with the Sound Sample tab at the top of the page)
†This track may be heard on the Sampler CD