50 CDs from the Mercury Living Presence series released in the early to late 1990s (the 51th CD is a bonus, with an interview with Wilma Cozart Fine, the producer of those already legendary reissues): of course, this reissue is as much about what is NOT included as what is. Under the guidance of Wilma Cozart, Philips/Universal released more than 100 reissuses from the Mercury catalog - I've counted 135 CDs (some in 2- or 3-CD sets) excluding the two compilations "You Are There!", and I think my Mercury discography is complete. Some were also later issued in SACD form (I am aware of 20 releases) - but apparently those were not produced by Wilma Cozart, and, unlike the straight CDs, they weren't transfers from the orignal 35mm-film. Anyway, those SACDs are now selling at very unreasonable prices, and likewise with many of the original CDs, also offered at steep prices on the secondary market, so it is good to have at least part of them (50 / 135 makes 37 %) back at less than 2 pounds a disc. The set will be very welcome at least to newcomers who wouldn't have most of them already. Not my case: I have too many of the individual issues to make it worthwhile to replace the whole, just to get the few I am missing. So I'll have to keep scouting on the net in search of affordable opportunities.
All the CDs on this collector's edition are straight reissues from the original CDs, with no reshuffling of material. No cause for concern here: those original CDs were already very generous in timing. This collector's edition gathers all the Janis from the Mercury CD series (5 CDs), the Bachauer (4 CD), the Szeryng (3 CDs), the Romeros (3 CDs), 6 Starker out of 7 (missing is the Chopin Sonata), 2 Kubelik out of 4 (missing Dvorak's New World and the Kubelik/Dorati compilation of Hindemith Schoenberg Bartok Kodaly). 14 CDs conducted by Dorati (other than Concertos) provide the main bulk of the programs featured in the box, but still those selections only skim the surface. Among the missing ones are his complete Brahms and Tchaikovsky symphonies and Swan Lake, his two Respighi and two Rimsky CDs, his Schoenberg-Berg-Webern collection with the London Symphony Orchestra, three Bartok out of 5, Dvorak Symphonies 7 & 8, Beethoven Symphonies 5-7. The Paray selections are only apetizers, out of 18 Paray CDs the box offers a paltry 2. There are 6 out of the 18 Fennell CDs (I can certainly do without hours an hours of Marches!), 3 out of 16 Hansons (only one out of three of himself conducting his own works, and not his Gershwin with Eugene List), and none of the 3 Puyana CDs. The rest is the famous Russian Balalaika and one Skrowacewski.
Here's the Edition's complete content. The Mercury Living Presence series is not entirely easy to track down on this website, because not all are listed under the label Mercury: some come under Philips, some others under Polygram Records. Unfortunately I cannot provide the product links to each original CD release, since these reviews are limited to 10 such product links: and it's a little under 50 (accounting for the 2-CD sets) I'd need to provide here. But I will at least provide the label numbers of the original CD, the ASIN numbers, and those of the SACD reissue when relevant.
CD 1
Kubelik / Chicago SO 23 & 24 April 1951
Mussorgsky / Ravel: Pictures at an exhibition, Bartók: Music for strings, percussion and celesta
434 378
Moussorgsky (orch. Ravel): Pictures at an Exhibition / Bartók: Music for Strings, Percussion and CelestaCD 2
Kubelik / CSO 4-6 December 1952
Smetana: Má Vlast
434 379
Smetana: Má VlastCD 3
Howard Hanson / Eastman-Rochester Orchestra
Fiesta in Hi-Fi (works of McBride, Nelson, Mitchell, Vardell, William Grant Still, Ginastera's Ouverture to a Creole Faust)
Recorded: Oct. 1956 (1-4, 6), May 1956 (5), October 1959 (7-9)
434 324
Hanson Conducts Fiesta in Hi-FiCD 4
Dorati / Minneapolis Symphony /
Philharmonia Hungarica
Kodály (Hary Janos-Suite, Galanta & Marosszek Dances) & Bartók (Hungarian Sketches, Roumanian Dances)
432 005
Antal Dorati Conducts Kodály & BartókHáry János, Hungarian Sketches and Roumanian Folk Dances were recorded on 17 Nov. 1956, Marosszék and Galánta were recorded on 2 June 1958 in the Grosse Saal of the Wiener Konzerthaus, Vienna.
CD 5
Menuhin / Dorati / Minneapolis Symphony
Bartók: Violin Concerto No.2 (17 Febr. 1957); Second Suite (26 Nov. 1955)
434 350
Bartók: Violin Concerto No. 2; Second SuiteCD 6
Frederick Fennell / Estman-Rochester Pops
Hi-Fi a la Española (25 March 1957) & Excerpts from Popovers (1959)
434 349
Hi-Fi a La Espanola & PopoversCD 7
Dorati / London Symphony Orchestra /
Minneapolis Symphony
Prokofiev: Scythian Suite; Love for Three Oranges (4 July 1957); Symphony 5 (November 1959)
432 753
Prokofiev: Scythian suite; Love for Three Oranges suite; Symphony No. 5CD 8
Howard Hanson - The Composer and his Orchestra (with Merry Mount-Suite (Oct. 1957), Mosaics (May 1960), "For the First Time" (May 1963) and Piano Concerto (May 1965)
434 371
The Composer and His OrchestraNote that the original reissue came with a second disc with a discussion by Hanson of orchestration and some of the works, with musical examples. Apparently, not here.
CD 9
Dorati / Minneapolis Symphony
Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture (April 1958); Capriccio Italien (Dec. 1955)
Beethoven: Wellington's Victory (June 1960)
434 360
Tchaikovsky: 1812 Festival Overture; Capriccio Italien; Beethoven: Wellington's Victory.
Note that the same program was also published earlier on 416 448, but with Tchaikovsky's Romeo & Juliet-Overture instead of Capriccio italien,
Dorati cond Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture, Romeo & Juliet Overture ; Beethoven Wellington's Victory (Mercury). Apparently this earlier batch of reissues (I've located also a Sousa disc by Fennell and Respighi's Ancient Airs and Dances by Dorati) was NOT supervized by Wilma Cozart and not made after the original 35 mm films, but from x generation dubs previously used for LPs, so they are better avoided.
CD 10
Dorati / Minneapolis Symphony (5-6 April 1958)
Dvorák: Slavonic Dances, opp.46 & 72
434 384 ASIN B0000057NE
CD 11
Howard Hanson / Eastman-Rochester Orchestra
Grofé: Grand Canyon Suite (5 May 1958); Herbert: Cello Concerto No.2 (Georges Miquelle, 20 Oct. 1957)
434 355 ASIN B0000057MR. The original issue has also Grofé's Mississipi-Suite (4 & 5 May 1958), so I am supposing that the Collector's edition does too.
CD 12
Frederick Fennell / Eastman Wind Ensemble
British and American Band Classics, with Gordon Jacob Suite "William Byrd", Walton Crown Imperial March, Holst Hammersmith Prelude and Scherzo (21 November 1958), Robert Russell Bennett Symphonic Songs, Clifton Williams Fanfare and Allegro (3 May 1959)
432 009 ASIN B0000057KR
CD 13
Dorati / Minneapolis Symphony /
London Symphony Orchestra
Stravinsky: Petrouchka (4 April 1959); Le Sacre du printemps (15 November 1959)
434 331 ASIN B0000057M3 (I assume the reissue has also the Four Etudes from 7 July 1964 as on the original CD)
CD 14
Paray / Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Suppé (29 Nov. 1959) & Auber (4 April 1959): Overtures
434 309 ASIN B0000057LK or B000C4CCAK. This one was also released on SACD, 470 638-2 ASIN B0000DC15J.
CD 15
Paray / Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique (Nov. 1959); Hungarian March (April 1959); Trojan March (April 1959); The Corsaire, Overture (March 1958); The Roman Carnival, Overture (March 1958).
434 328 ASIN B0000057M0, SACD 475 6622 B000AC5B02
CD 16
Frederick Fennell / Eastman Wind Ensemble
Sousa: Sound Off! & Sousa on Review: 24 Favorite Marches
434 300 B0000057LB SACD 475 6182 B0002O3902.
Tracks 1-12: 2 May 1960; 13-24: 5 May 1961.
As mentioned there had been an earlier release of the Sousa Marches by Fennel, 416 147-2 ASIN B00000E347, but I haven't been able to establish if it collected the same 24, and anyway it is one of those non-Wilma Cozart remastered releases.
CD 17
Dorati / London Symphony Orchestra
Enesco: Roumanian Rhapsody No.1 /
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsodies 1-6
(Enesco + HR 1 & 3: 13 & 14 June 1960; HR 2,4-6: 19-21 July 1963)
432 015 B0000057KX SACD 475 6185 B0007YP0TU
CD 18
Dorati / London Symphony Orchestra (15 and 17 June 1960)
Khachaturian: Gayaneh
Skrowaczewski / Minneapolis Symphony (25 March 1961)
Shostakovich: Symphony No.5
434 323 B0000057LV
CD 19
Dorati / London Symphony Orchestra
Enesco: Roumanian Rhapsody No.
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