(Updated) Up till 2010, this is the only recording in my favourite list that I did not own the original. I've tried to collect almost all of Fricsay's DG recordings, including the large box-set of Ferenc Fricsay Edition, but this one somehow still eluded me for a long time. At long last I got this Fricsay Beethoven Seventh together with his Beethoven Third, Fifth and Eighth all in the French DG Double series (457 952-2).
My first encounter with it was when I listened to my friend's Orchestral box-set in the Complete Beethoven Edition. It was coupled with Anne Fischer's Beethoven piano concerto no. 3. What a revelation. What a tragic loss to the musical world given Fricsay's short life-span.
The tempo is slow but the inner tension is exciting. Fricsay has the special gift to have the apt feeling of pulse and the shaping of the pulse. My admiration is drawn to the way he so beautifully moulds the opening phrases of the first and second movements, and still carries me cogently on into the drama. The dance is rhythmic and uplifting.
As a consolation, it is still available for download, albeit in mp3, from the DG webshop.
A fine tribute to a great conductor.
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