Dorati conducts Rimsky-Korsakov & Borodin / London Symphony

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
This recording was one of the glories of the Mercury Living Presence catalogue (which isn't saying much, because it was a catalogue that consisted of little but glories). Antal Dorati and the London Symphony Orchestra really dig into this colorful and tuneful music, giving performances of uninhibited brilliance and joy. No matter the piece, Rimsky-Korsakov just doesn't work unless everyone sounds like they're having a great time playing him. In fact, despite the music's descriptive purpose, it's really about an orchestral wizard playing with all of those really cool instruments, like a kid in a candy shop. Well, this record probably caused more than a few musical cavities. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews:

Minneapolis Symphony Shines Again.......2005-11-11

This box set of recordings by the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra (known today as the Minnesota Orchestra) is a dream come true for anyone who grew up hearing this magnificent group either live or on LP. Listeners cannot help but be impressed by their remarkable clarity, rhythmic vitality, and artful precision (dare I call it the "Minneapolis Sound"?)- especially when you consider that these recordings were made in the 50s and 60s on the stage of Northrup Auditorium at the University of Minnesota.

Antal Dorati had a keen ear for orchestral color, and this collection is a lasting testament to his instincts. Anyone who reveres the old recordings by such conductors as Ormandy, Bernstein, Reiner, Szell, et al., are highly encouraged to check out this collection. The hauntingly exotic "Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee" by Gunther Schuller (commissioned by the Orchestra) is an all-too-rare gem that deserves to be heard - a modern-day "Pictures at an Exhibition".

Dorati carried his concepts of color over to his recordings with the London Symphony Orchestra, as the Stravinsky and Prokofiev selections will attest.

I encourage audiophiles to discover one of those "other" orchestras from "back then". I think it will be a "sound" investmment.

Dorati's MLP Gems Are Back!.......2005-10-03

Those familiar with my reviews on Amazon know of my great love for the Mercury Living Presence series. Equally great is my disgust that so many of these brilliant recordings have been deleted in the last few years! Thankfully, some of these legendary performances are resurfacing, and while the single disc SACD Hybrid titles are unfortunately listed at full-price, it is wonderful to see the various multi-disc sets basically being sold at budget line. With this 5CD reissue, some of Antal Dorati's legendary MLP recordings are restored to the catalog, as all of the original single issue CDs of these titles had all gone out-of-print over the last few years. To illustrate how prized these recordings are by collectors, if you wanted to buy these five titles just a few months ago in the Amazon Marketplace it would have cost you four times the price of this new set! Buying this collection for Dorati's accounts of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring and Petrouchka alone is worthwhile, as they are two of those works greatest performances. Of course getting memorable recordings of Strauss' Till Eulenspiegel, Don Juan, Death & Transfiguration and the conductor's own Suite from Der Rosenkavalier; Prokofiev's 5th Symphony and Suites from Scythian and Love for Three Oranges; Albeniz' Iberia Suite along with Falla, Moussorgsky and Smetana excerpts; and Gershwin's American in Paris, Copland's Rodeo Dances, and some wild Schuller and Bloch compositions (whew!) is just more to get excited about. Overall, it makes for quite an attractive package -- glorious golden age stereo recordings returned to the catalog at a very reasonable price. Once again, Mercury Living Presence lives!

Dorati conducts Rimsky-Korsakov & Borodin / London Symphony

Average customer rating:

the exception
SOMETHING TO CROW ABOUT
Dorati and LSO at the Bolshoi

Dorati conducts Rimsky-Korsakov & Borodin / London Symphony

Manufacturer: Polygram Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Russian | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
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Delibes: Coppélia (complete ballet) / Sylvia (Ballet in Three Acts)
Bizet: Carmen Suite; Arlésienne Suites Nos. 1 & 2; Thomas: Mignon & Raymond Overtures

ASIN: B0000057LJ
Release Date: 1992-03-10

Tracks:

Capriccio espagnol, Op. 34: 1. Alborada
Capriccio espagnol, Op. 34: 2. Variazioni
Capriccio espagnol, Op. 34: 3. Alborada
Capriccio espagnol, Op. 34: 4. Scena e canto gitano
Capriccio espagnol, Op. 34: 5. Fandango asturiano
Suite from 'Le Coq d'or': 1. King Dodon In His Palace
Suite from 'Le Coq d'or': 2. King Dodon On The Battlefield
Suite from 'Le Coq d'or': 3. King Dodon With Queen Shemakha
Suite from 'Le Coq d'or': 4. Marriage Feast And Lamentable End Of King Dodon
Russian Easter Overture, Op. 36
Polovtsian Dances From 'Prince Igor'

Amazon.com

This recording was one of the glories of the Mercury Living Presence catalogue (which isn't saying much, because it was a catalogue that consisted of little but glories). Antal Dorati and the London Symphony Orchestra really dig into this colorful and tuneful music, giving performances of uninhibited brilliance and joy. No matter the piece, Rimsky-Korsakov just doesn't work unless everyone sounds like they're having a great time playing him. In fact, despite the music's descriptive purpose, it's really about an orchestral wizard playing with all of those really cool instruments, like a kid in a candy shop. Well, this record probably caused more than a few musical cavities. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews:

the exception.......2007-04-07

No one is more a fan of the Mercury Living Presence series than I, but this performance of the Cockeral is disappointing. The conducting is great as is the technical quality. The problem is in the sloppiness of the orchestra. This just isn't the quality LSO of which we have become accustomed. The strings are the worst with the brass only marginally better. It's too bad the old recording of the Philadelphia Orchestra under Ormandy isn't available on CD. No complaints of any other Mercury's though.

SOMETHING TO CROW ABOUT.......2002-11-21

Mercury seem to have been way ahead of the field as recording technicians to judge by this disc and a Rite of Spring (also from Dorati but with the Minneapolis) that I have owned for most of my life. When these recordings were made, the President of the USA was Mr Eisenhower, but their technical quality would be creditable for the third millennium. Rimsky-Korsakoff needs to sound brilliant and vivid -- orchestral tone was as integral to his musical thinking as counterpoint was to that of Bach or Brahms -- but for its age this disc is nothing short of phenomenal, and worth every cent of the price. The London Symphony in its heyday was probably the world's greatest orchestra, and even its lesser performances had an arrogant 'this-is-all-too-easy' assurance that made it something like ideal for Rimsky. The Walthamstow Town Hall was a famous recording venue, and Dorati is a conductor I wish I knew more about. What little I previously had by him (the Rite of Spring and some Haydn symphonies) is superlative. I got this record for the Coq d'Or suite, which is my #1 favourite bit of Rimsky but which has not been easy to find in Europe lately. It has everything I would have wanted from a record cut in 2002, and the other Rimsky pieces are to the same standard. So are the Borodin Polovtsian Dances, which are a worthy successor to my LP version -- by Beecham, no less -- but this is basically a disc for Rimsky-fanatics. If you are no kind of fanatic, here is a chance to be one without harming anybody. If you are the wrong sort of fanatic, here is a better outlet for your impulses.

Dorati and LSO at the Bolshoi.......2000-06-24

These recordings from 1955-61 smell of the theatre which is a great compliment. It might as well be the Bolshoi.The performances are razor-sharp, dramatic, exciting, and gloriously recorded. The LSO under Dorati was a remarkable ensemble, and all these years later, you can still "hear" Dorati in its concerts and recordings.

Walthamstow Town Hall, London, made a superb venue for this standard of music-making, and Wilma Cozart has rehabbed her own recording sessions to remarkable effect.

If you compare these with first edition vinyl, you'll find that the LPs give you more of the characteristic Dorati "gut" in string attacks, but that's not enough to dissuade you getting this disk if your vinyl is in ratty condition.

Tracks:

Iberia, Suite: 1. Evocation
Iberia, Suite: 2. El Corpus en Sevilla
Iberia, Suite: 3. Triana
Iberia, Suite: 4. El Puerto
Iberia, Suite: 5. El Albaicin
Interlude And Dance No. 1, From 'La Vida Breve'
Two Excerpts From 'Khovanshchina': 1. Prelude
Two Excerpts From 'Khovanshchina': 2. Dance Of The Persian Slaves
Excerpts From 'The Bartered Bride': 1. Overture
Excerpts From 'The Bartered Bride': 2. Polka
Excerpts From 'The Bartered Bride': 3. Furiant
Excerpts From 'The Bartered Bride': 4. Dance Of The Comedians

Customer Reviews:

Flabbergasting sound!.......2006-09-02

When the first notes of this CD sounded both my spaniels dashed out to the living room to see what it was. They usually only pick up their ears a little bit. And they certainly were right to react! The sound of this FIFTY - yes, fifty - year old material is mindboggling. Moreover the orchestra playing while not absolute top=drawer is still quite good and very well-rehearsed.
I purchased this for the Albeniz and that alone quite justified the cost of the CD. Before buying this CD you should know it is also available in the 5 CD Dorati Box Set, which is another good way to buy some CD reissues of these Mercury recordings. If you choose to buy just this CD you will almostly certainly play it again, if only to see if it actually is that good. IT IS! (You'll probably show it off, too.) One can only wonder and marvel at the achievement of the original engineers. What a pristine original LP sounds like will set you back hundreds of dollars - and require a hefty investment in turntable and cartridge. This CD format should do fine for most of us.

Get Mercury Living Presence Before Its Dead.......2003-07-16

When I first started collecting classical CDs, I only had a few Mercury Living Presence (MLP) titles. In my quest to get the absolute best, or at least a definitive recording, of the major works of the standard repertoire, MLP discs rarely topped the critics' lists. In fact, only three MLP recordings have been earmarked as "Essential Recordings" by amazon -- Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, Byron Janis performing Rachmaninov's 2nd & 3rd Piano Concertos, and Yehudi Menuhin performing Bartok's 2nd Violin Concerto, all three with Antal Dorati as conductor. It is also safe to say that three other titles are equally essential for their historical value alone. They are Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake by Dorati (the first recording of the complete ballet), Janis performing Liszt's Piano Concertos (the first recordings made in the Soviet Union by American technicians, musical staff and equipment), and Kubelik's Chicago Symphony performance of Pictures at an Exhibition (one of, if not the single best mono recording ever, and the one that led the New York Times critic to coin the phrase "Living Presence," from which the label named its series). But how does a CD line go from having a half-dozen must have recordings, to being this reviewer's all-time favorite classical label?

The answer: consistently magical performances, captured in brilliant golden-age stereo sound, that offer a slightly different take on your typical interpretation of the great works. While MLP titles may not offer the best standard account of a work, they always surprise you and open you up to all the possibilities that the music has to offer. I find myself constantly coming back to this disc for a different perspective on these pieces by Albeniz, Falla, Mussorgsky and Smetana. Maybe that is why collectors prize these recordings, because they are a breath of fresh air in a homogenized world of listening. Of course, collectors love a challenge too, and MLP CDs are becoming increasingly hard to find. It has taken years for me to finally find all of the MLP CDs released to date, and unfortunately I don't think there will be any new releases forthcoming. So collectors, and even those who aspire to be, should pick up as many Mercury Living Presence discs as possible now, before they all die.

Suite Iberia.......2000-04-01

I'm not familiar with this work in CD's, but I remember it very well because my father had the 33 LP original version, which was very lively and reverberant. If the CD retains all these good features for sure it should sound great

Track Listings:

Track Listings

track listings

Track Listings

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