Further Reading
23rd July 2023
The Mono and Stereo recordings made by Antal Doráti with the Minnesota Orchestra are discussed with Rob Cowan and the executive producer of the new box sets, and son of the original producers, Thomas Fine.
Documenting all of Antal Dorati's stereo recordings with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra for Mercury, this edition showcases a golden era in American classical recording. The recordings were heralded with superlatives from contemporary journals
"Breathtaking, this Dorati...", "as technically flawless as it is sonically and melodically intoxicating" (High Fidelity) - and reveals a musical personality centred on dynamism, intensity, and an exceptional ability to persuasively articulate rhythms.
The project has been supervised byThomas Fine and includes CD premieres, a previously unpublished audio interview and rare session photographs from the archives.
The Hungarian conductor Antal Dorati joined the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra as its music director in 1949, and immediately began making it into one of the orchestral powerhouses of the post-war United States. Mercury began recording the ensemble in 1952 and continued to do so until his departure in 1960. Dorati's 51 albums (24 mono, 27 stereo) are a testament to what he achieved with the orchestra during his eleven years there. They reveal a musical personality centred on dynamism, intensity, and an exceptional ability to persuasively articulate rhythms.
Eloquence presents the most complete ever reissue of the Dorati/Minneapolis legacy in two 'original jackets' boxes, faithfully representing the contents of the albums as they were first issued. New remastering made or supervised by Thomas Fine, son of Mercury's long-time chief engineer and producer, as well as original remastering for CD by Wilma Cozart Fine, bring this legacy to life as never before. Thomas Fine contributes a 'sessionography' to each box detailing the technical facets of the Mercury Living Presence recordings, and Dennis D. Rooney is the author of authoritative booklet notes surveying the history of the partnership on record as well as his personal memoirs of the period.
The stereo box features some repertoire remakes of mono-era recordings, and while close comparison between them only serves to underline the conductor's remarkable consistency of idea and execution - he knew what he wanted, and he got it - there are many insights to be found in placing Dorati's mono and stereo 'Rites' side by side, his Johann Strauss waltzes and Richard Strauss tone-poems, his Scheherazade, Petrouchka, Pines of Rome and more. Dorati continued to lavish his perfectionist ear and sprung rhythms on ballet scores such as Copland's Rodeo and Delibes's Coppelia.
Significant rarities - some of them appearing for the first time on CD - include albums of contemporary American pieces by Fetler, Peterson and Schuller, and a disc of Dorati's own music. One more rarity, never reissued since 1958, is 'The Magic of the Bells': a collection of hymns recorded on the same Riverside Church, New York bells as the legendary 1812 Overture album.
As sequels to the Eloquence boxes dedicated to Kubelik in Chicago and Paray in Detroit, these Dorati collections comprehensively document a golden era in American classical recording.
"fiery, colourful and warm-blooded and superbly recorded" Tempo.
"Sonically it is hair-raising"Hi-Fi Review.
"The playing is excellent ... The Suite, for all that it is so rarely heard, could well become a popular favourite like the Concerto for Orchestra." Gramophone, December 1956 (Bartok: Suite No.2)
"The performance is decidedly suggestive and skilful, reproduced with a sensitivity to the complex score that captures more of its finer essences than anyone but the conductor usually can hear." High Fidelity, February 1957 (Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier suite)
"The most vivid and theatrical of all the Petrouchkas on record." Gramophone, July 1957 (Stravinsky: Petrouchka)
"The recording is sensationally fine, the interpretation generally brilliant, sensitive, and penetrating." High Fidelity, December 1957 (Bartok: Violin Concerto No. 2)
