Search - Paray, Detroit Symphony :: Marches & Overtures a La Francaise

Le Snap, Le Pop

Mark G McCue | Denver, CO United States | 02/06/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What a zinger of a CD this compilation of two top-rated old LPs makes. No big surprise, really. Paul Paray is such a legend now that any combination of his recorded material is bound to please.All the pieces were favorites of his for the lighter concert fare, encores, special occasions, or curtain-raisers to show off his estimable ensemble's virtuosity. And, yes, they're all French, including the Rossini "Guillaume Tell" written for the Paris Opera and still in its repertoire. Students of conducting will still shake their heads in wonder as to how Paray got the glowing and individual results he did without being in any manipulative. That will always be an artistic mystery. What's not a mystery is the unalloyed pleasure you'll get from this exceptional sounding CD, and the mania you'll develop for listening to anything "A la Paray.""

Upbeat, up tempo

Mark Kolakowski | Fair Haven, NJ United States | 09/04/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"As with his other Mercury recordings, Paul Paray delivers, with gusto. The only puzzle is how Rossini's William Tell overture found its way onto this disc, with its French theme. The liner notes certainly fail to solve that riddle. Putting that small issue aside, one can't quibble with the selections, or their execution. This is a perfect companion to Paray's French Opera Highlights, another box of delectable bon-bons."

Vive La France!

Hiram Gomez Pardo | Valencia, Venezuela | 11/11/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Among the most remarkable and many times forgotten masters of the Orchestral direction, Paul Paray must be named with imperative character. What he achieved with the Detroit Symphony was incredible. He elevated the status and conferred it of personality and style. Charm, elegance, musculature, precision and incisiveness would be one of the most accented features that nourished this renowned ensemble along the Fifties. His sound is expansive and sumptuous, ambition and noblesse expressed with absolute conviction and vision. You just only to listen his Bizet and Chabrier for instance to realize what I mean. His fresh and undeniable charm with showy orchestral colors.



Paul Paray `s splendor and distinguished touch of class are exposed convincing and brilliant and the eloquent grandness shown along every one of these superb and inspired Marches. Gounod 's Funeral March of a Marionette was employed by Hitchcock as his musical curtain in TV series. Coronation March is a very felt and emotive piece. To talk about the admirable emotiveness and mercurial result of La Marseillaise is useless, unless you listen it with your attention. His Offenbach is simply sublime, listen for instance the impressive final code of La belle Helene, the majestic and inspired touch of refined elegance in Orpheus in the Underworld, played with such conviction level that gets to mesmerize even the most indifferent listener, bringing back the alluring atmosphere of the Parisian Belle Époque and the ravishing presence of Loutrec. And we finally arrive to one of the best known Overtures of the repertoire: William Tell. There are just four unsurpassed versions in the history: Arturo Toscanini and NBC, Fritz Reiner and Chicago, Carlo Maria Giulini and this one.



So please, don' t miss this legendary CD, that not only is obligated reference every July 14th , but also every time you feel enraptured and bewitched by the French mood.



Absolutely recommended.

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