Search - Antal Dorati :: Antal Dorati Celebration (Box)

A good traversal of Dorati hits from the London/Decca and Ph

Classic Music Lover | Maryland, USA | 10/07/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Of the more than 600 recordings made by conductor Antal Dorati beginning in the late 1930s and continuing on until the last year of his life in 1988, the ones best known to collectors are those he recorded with the Minneapolis Symphony and London Symphony Orchestras for Mercury Living Presence. But those are, in fact, a minority of his recorded output. In fact, he probably made more recordings for London/Decca than for any other single label (EMI, Philips, Vox, BIS, RCA, Mercury). It is these recordings, plus some made for Philips, that comprise the selections contained in this Decca 6-CD set, released in 2006 on the occasion of the conductor's 100th anniversary.



For the most part, the choice of musical numbers -- all orchestral works from the romantic and 20th Century era -- is good. In some cases, there are later interpretations of works originally recorded for Mercury such as the Bartok "Concerto for Orchestra" and "Dance Suite," Stravinsky's "Sacre du Printemps," Richard Strauss' "Don Juan" plus a variety of Copland numbers. With the exception of the Bartok Concerto and Stravinsky's Sacre, the works included here are shorter ones -- basically a good move in order to include a wider range of musical selections from among the voluminous choices. But this means we don't get the chance to hear interpretations of symphonies like the Dvorak "New World," Thaikovsky 4th or Pettersen 7th, or some of the ballet music for which Dorati was so esteemed (like "Graduation Ball," his own pastiche of Johann Strauss music). And none of the complete Haydn symphonies Dorati recorded with the Philharmonia Hungarica is included.



Several of the recordings are particularly interesting such as the "Folk Song Suite" of Leo Weiner, one of Dorati's teachers in Budapest, in a recording that has not been available for more than 25 years. There are numerous other works that have not been commercially released on CD before now.



Here and there is a clunker or two. For example, the "Carmen" suites recorded by Philips in the early years of stereo with an inferior orchestra (Concerts Lamoureux), plus two rather heavy-handed Johann Strauss waltzes originally recorded on London Phase 4 records are not really necessary. The "Don Juan" with the Detroit Symphony could have been replaced by the "Der Rosenkavalier" suite (arranged by Dorati) or even "Till Eulenspiegel," recorded (better) by these same forces. And I don't understand why the producers elected to include the Concertgbouw Orchestra's version of the Bartok "Deux Images" -- a Philips early digital travesty, steely loud with no depth -- when they could have dipped back only a few years before to select Dorati's far more lushly recorded version with the Detroit Symphony.



Still, this Dorati Celebration set is very worthwhile to have -- and turns out to be a good deal of music for the money. In fact, it makes one wish for more, such as Dorati's exciting series of Tchaikovsky tone poems (some of them quite rare) recorded with the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, DC. (And how about more than the one Wagner Ring selection with this same orchestra that was included?) On top of this, there's a mini treasure-trove of obscure romantic and contemporary works recorded by Dorati for Philips with a variety of Benelux orchestras. Perhaps the producers preferred to include mainly the "classical hit parade" to stimulate album sales."