Cat. no: ELQ4847015
Format: 29 x CD
Barcode: 0028948470150
Release Date: 07 Mar 2025
Genre: Classical

Covering recordings from July 1956 to July 1961, here are early stereo spectaculars on Mercury, under the inspired baton of Antal Dorati: classic albums of Haydn, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky and many more in a new 'Original Jackets' Limited Edition.Eloquence has been making a systematic and critically acclaimed survey of the Mercury legacy of recordings made by the Hungarian conductor Antal Dorati

Boxes of his complete recordings with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra and the Philharmonia Hungarica have revived albums from the 1950s and 60s which set new standards for lifelike sound and intensely engaged performances in the recording studio.

Volume 1 of Dorati's London recordings covers sessions from July 1956 to July 1961. Conductor and orchestra met for an intensive fortnight each year after the end of the concert season. Both the conductor and the Mercury engineers were demanding in their pursuit of perfection. The repertoire for these Mercury sessions in London played to Dorati's strengths.

Volume 1 includes library versions of music by Rimsky- Korsakov, Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker and Stravinsky's Firebird. Symphonies by Haydn (Nos. 45, 100 & 101) and Mozart (No. 40) are rhythmic and stylish. Anthologies of Verdi and Wagner orchestral music from operas tap into Dorati's theatrical strengths, no less than ballet scores by Khachaturian (Gayaneh) and Copland (Appalachian Spring and Billy the Kid).

A powerful meeting of minds is achieved with the pianist Byron Janis in the standard setting Rachmaninoff Third Piano Concerto, with the violinist Henryk Szeryng in Brahms and the cellist Janos Starker in Dvorak.

Unique to this new collection is the frst ofcial CD release of Dvorak's Carnaval Overture.

"This disc should give delight to Handelians who place colour and subtlety above the occasional drabness of scholastic monochrome." Gramophone, April 1960 (Handel)

"Fastidiously prepared ... well prepared and sensibly paced ... to say that the thrilling fnale [of No. 100] is supercharged is an understatement." Gramophone, December 2020 (Haydn)

"This Firebird is really alive, and it pecks hard! ... It still sounds ridiculously good ... a riveting performance." Gramophone, January 2024 (Stravinsky)

"Szeryng's playing all through has unusual distinction. His tone is pure, his intonation faultless, his control of the bow miraculous ... This is a quite unusually expressive performance." Gramophone, April 1963 (Brahms: Violin Concerto)

"Dorati, as usual, never fails to make the maximum effect from every instrumental line in the score ... Starker's feeling for this work and his great technique are well known." Gramophone, April 1963 (Dvorak: Cello Concerto)

Tracks: PROKOFIEV: The Love for Three Oranges: Suite; Scythian Suite / MOZART: Eine kleine Nachtmusik / Symphony No. 36 'Linz' / RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Le Coq d'Or: Suite / BORODIN: Polovtsian Dances / MENDELSSOHN Symphony No. 3 / The Hebrides - Overture / RESPIGHI: The Birds / Brazilian Impressions / BRAHMS: Variations on a Theme by Haydn / Hungarian Dances / HAYDN: Symphonies Nos. 100 & 101 / VERDI: Overtures & Preludes / HANDEL-HARTY: Water Music: Suite / Music for the Royal Fireworks / KHACHATURIAN: Gayaneh (excerpts) / TCHAIKOVSKY: Romeo and Juliet / SMETANA: Vltava / MUSSORGSKY: Night on Bald Mountain / LISZT: Les Preludes / SIBELIUS: Finlandia / STRAVINSKY: The Firebird / WAGNER: Overtures & Preludes / ENESCU: Romanian Rhapsodies / LISZT: Hungarian Rhapsodies Nos. 2 & 6 / DVORAK: Symphonies Nos. 7 & 8 / Carnaval - Overture / COPLAND: Appalachian Spring / Billy the Kid / TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 5 / RIMSKY- KORSAKOV: Russian Easter Festival Overture; Capriccio espagnol / BORODIN: Polovtsian Dances / BRAHMS: Symphony No. 1 / BEETHOVEN: Wellington's Victory / Die Geschopfe des Prometheus - Overture / Leonore Overture No. 3 / BERG: Lulu Suite / Wozzeck (excerpts) / TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 4 / MOZART: Symphony No. 40 / HAYDN: Symphony No. 45 / RACHMANINOFF: Piano Concerto No. 3 / WAGNER: Overtures & Preludes / DVORAK: Cello Concerto / BRUCH: Kol Nidrei / TCHAIKOVSKY: The Nutcracker / BRAHMS: Violin Concerto / WEBER: Oberon - Overture / SCHUMANN: Symphony No. 4 / BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 6