Antal Doráti in London – Volume 1 (29CD Box Set)

Covering recordings from July 1956 to July 1961, here are early stereo spectaculars on Mercury, under the inspired baton of Antal Doráti: 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 Doráti. 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 Doráti’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, in terms of orchestral attack, ensemble, balance, colour and all the disparate elements which contribute towards the kind of repeatability that made these albums such artistic and commercial successes.

The repertoire for these Mercury sessions in London played to Dorati’s strengths. Volume 1 includes library versions of 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 Szernyg in Brahms and the cellist János Starker in Dvořák.

As David Patmore reveals in his new essay for the collection, illuminating the background to Doráti’s relationships with both Mercury and with the LSO, the Mercury team wanted to make ‘event’ recordings of a new and unrivalled immediacy. Unique to this new collection is the first official release of Dvořák’s Carnaval Overture.

CD 1
PROKOFIEV: The Love for Three Oranges: Suite; Scythian Suite

CD 2
MOZART: Eine kleine Nachtmusik
Symphony No. 36 ‘Linz’

CD 3
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Le Coq d’Or: Suite
BORODIN: Polovtsian Dances

CD 4
MENDELSSOHN Symphony No. 3
The Hebrides – Overture

CD 5
RESPIGHI: The Birds; Brazilian Impressions

CD 6
BRAHMS: Variations on a Theme by Haydn; Hungarian Dances

CD 7
HAYDN: Symphonies Nos. 100 & 101

CD 8
VERDI: Overtures & Preludes

CD 9
HANDEL–HARTY: Water Music: Suite
Music for the Royal Fireworks

CD 10
KHACHATURIAN: Gayaneh
TCHAIKOVSKY: Romeo and Juliet

CD 11
SMETANA: Vltava
MUSSORGSKY: Night on Bald Mountain
LISZT: Les Préludes
SIBELIUS: Finlandia

CD 12
STRAVINSKY: The Firebird

CDs 13
WAGNER: Overtures & Preludes

CD 14
ENESCU: Romanian Rhapsodies
LISZT: Hungarian Rhapsodies Nos. 2 & 6

CD 15
DVOŘÁK: Symphonies Nos. 7 & 8
Carnaval – Overture*
*FIRST CD RELEASE ON DECCA

CD 16
COPLAND: Appalachian Spring
Billy the Kid

CD 17
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 5

CD 18
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Russian Easter Festival Overture; Capriccio espagnol
BORODIN: Polovtsian Dances

CD 19
BRAHMS: Symphony No. 1

CD 20
BEETHOVEN: Wellington’s Victory
Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus – Overture
Leonore Overture No. 3
Deems Taylor

CD 21
BERG: Lulu Suite
Wozzeck (excerpts)
Helga Pilarczyk

CD 22
TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 4

CD 23
MOZART: Symphony No. 40
HAYDN: Symphony No. 45

CD 24
RACHMANINOFF: Piano Concerto No. 3
Byron Janis

CD 25
WAGNER: Overtures & Preludes

CD 26
DVOŘÁK: Cello Concerto
BRUCH: Kol Nidrei
Janos Starker

CD 27
TCHAIKOVSKY: The Nutcracker

CD 28
BRAHMS: Violin Concerto
Henryk Szeryng

CD 29
WEBER: Oberon – Overture
SCHUMANN: Symphony No. 4
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 6

ARTISTS
London Symphony Orchestra
ANTAL DORÁTI