Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

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, from the early 1950s to 1964, of many of those already legendary reissues, and the wife of C. Robert Fine, the sound engineer who really MADE the sound of Living Presence, thanks to his "minimalist" approach to microphoning): of course, this reissue is as much about what is NOT included as what is. Between 1990 and 1995 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!" - transfered and remastered with loving care from the original masters by Mrs Cozart Fine. Some were also later issued in SACD form (I am aware of 20 releases), but apparently those were not produced by Wilma Cozart Fine, and, unlike the straight CDs, they weren't made using the restored original Mercury "vacuum-type Westrex film recorder and Amex 3-track tape machine". 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 3 dollars 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 already 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 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 12+ 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, on top of which come the SACDs. But I will at least provide the label numbers of the original CD, the ASIN numbers, and those of the SACD reissue when relevant. Since the booklet that comes with the box apparently doesn't provide the info about recording dates, I will do so. The recording dates I provide are collated from various sources: the individual CDs when I have them, but also the mammoth Mercury discography compiled by Michel Ruppli and Ed Novitsky (volume IV has the chronological listing of the Mercury Living Presence classical records, The Mercury Labels: A Discography Volume IV The 1969-1991 Era and Classical Recordings (Discographies)), and the comprehensive and detailed discography of the London Symphony Orchestra by Philip Stuart (it is now hosted on the website of CHARM, the Research Center for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music). I have found no discrepancy between Stuart and Ruppli/Novitsky; there are a few (but rarely more serious than a few days) between them and the dating provided on the CDs. In some cases where I've been able to check, the booklets were wrong and the Ruppli/Novitsky dating was right (no way Mercury could have been recording Paray's Auber Overtures in Detroit on April 4, 1959, AND Dorati's Petrouchka in Minneapolis. So Ruppli/Novitsky's 20 April for the latter is more likely), and in another case, it was the other way around (the dating of Janis' Pictures at an Exhibition). For a fabulous listing, with cover photos, of all Mercury Living Presence LPs and CDs (but a less detailed presentation of the recording dates), see http comma double slash mercury dot lacyway dot com. 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 Celesta CD 2 Kubelik / CSO 4-6 December 1952 Smetana: Má Vlast 434 379 Smetana: Má Vlast CD 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: 6 May & 28 Oct. 1956 (1-4), 25 October 1959 (5,6) 434 324 Hanson Conducts Fiesta in Hi-Fi CD 4 Dorati / Minneapolis Symphony / Philharmonia Hungarica Kodály (Hary Janos-Suite, Galanta & Marosszek Dances) & Bartók (Hungarian Sketches, Roumanian Folk Dances) 432 005 Antal Dorati Conducts Kodály & Bartók Háry János, Hungarian Sketches and Roumanian Folk Dances were recorded with the Minneapolis SO on 17 Nov. 1956, Marosszék and Galánta with Philharmonia Hungarica 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 Suite CD 6 Frederick Fennell / Estman-Rochester Pops Hi-Fi a la Española (25 March 1957) & Excerpts from Popovers (3 & 5 May 1959) 434 349 Hi-Fi a La Espanola & Popovers CD 7 Dorati / London Symphony Orchestra / Minneapolis Symphony Prokofiev: Scythian Suite; Love for Three Oranges (4 July 1957); Symphony 5 (14 & 15 November 1959) 432 753 Prokofiev: Scythian suite; Love for Three Oranges suite; Symphony No. 5 CD 8 Howard Hanson - The Composer and his Orchestra. With Merry Mount-Suite (20 Oct. 1957), Mosaics (1 May 1960), "For the First Time" (6 May 1963) and Piano Concerto (with Alfred Mouledous, 1 May 1965) 434 371, ASIN B0000057N4 Note that the original reissue came with a second disc with discussions by Hanson of orchestration and some of the works, with musical examples. Apparently, not here. CD 9 Dorati / Minneapolis Symphony Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture and spoken commentary by Deems Taylor (5 April 1958 with University of Minnesota Brass Band conducted by Gale Sperry, and Bells of the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial carillon at the Riverside Church NY, recorded 10 May 1958); Capriccio Italien (22 Dec. 1955) Beethoven: Wellington's Victory (9 June 1960, sound effects overdubbed at West Point, 20 August 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 & 4 May 1959) 432 009 ASIN B0000057KR CD 13 Dorati / Minneapolis Symphony Stravinsky: Petrouchka (20 April 1959, not 4 as CD indicates); Le Sacre du printemps (15 November 1959) London Symphony Orchestra Four Etudes (7 July 1964) 434 331 ASIN B0000057M3 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 & The Roman Carnival Overture (24 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 + Hungarian Rhapsodies 2 & 3: 13 & 14 June 1960; Hung. Rhaps. 1,4-6: 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.2 (14 June 14, 1960) Brahms: Hungarian Dances; Haydn Variations 434 326 B0000057LY Hungarian Dances tracks 2-8 and Haydn Variations: 5, 6, and 9 July 1957 Hungarian Dances tracks 9-17: 31 July and 2 August 1965 CD 20 & 21 The Civil War Its music and its sounds Frederick Fennell / Eastman Wind Ensemble (14-16 December 1960) 432 591 B0000057L2 CD 22 Byron Janis, Dorati Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos 3 (London Symphony Orchestra, 16-18 June 1961) & 2 (Minneapolis Symhony , 18-19 April 1960),. 2 Preludes (17 April 1960) 432 759 B0000057LA SACD 470 639-2 B0000DC15K "Note: The 35 mm film with the recording of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 with Byron Janis and Antal Dorati was lost and a tape copy of this recording was used for the first transfer to CD by Wilma Cozart Fine" (from the magnificent survey of Wilma Cozart Fine and Mercury Living Presence on soundfountain dot com). But this also, again from soundfountain: "The later transfers to CD and the 180 gr. LPs are done from the original 35 mm film which was recently rediscovered." CD 23 Dorati / London Symphony Orchestra / Minneapolis Symphony Copland: Appalachian Spring (15 & 16 June 1961); Billy the Kid (also 15 & 16 June 1961 according to CD, Rüppli/Novitsky say 24, another reliable source says begun on 15 & 16 and completed on 24); Danzón Cubano; El Salón México (20 Dec. 1957) 434 301 B0000057LC CD 24 Byron Janis / Minneapolis Symphony / Dorati Mussorgsky: Pictures at an exhibition piano original (25-29 Sept. 1961) + Ravel orchestration (21 April 1959) Chopin Etude & Waltz (11 June 1962) 434 346 B0000057MI SACD 475 6620 B000AC5AZI Ruppli/Novitsky date Janis' Pictures from October 6, but apparently through a confusion with the Liszt pieces (Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6, Valse Oubliée, Sonetto No. 104, now on CD 31) that Janis recorded on that date. CD 25 Minneapolis Symphony / Skrowaczewski (23 April 1962) Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet Suites 1 & 2 London Symphony Orchestra / Dorati (8 June 1960) Mussorgsky: Night on the bare mountain 432-004 B0000057KM CD 26 Byron Janis / Minneapolis Symphony / Skrowaczewski / Schumann: Piano Concerto (21 April 1962); Arabeske London Symphony / Menges Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No.1 (7-8 June 1960) 432 011 B0000057KT CD 27 Pepe Romero (13, 16, 17, 18 April 1962) Flamenco! 434 361 B0000057MX CD 28 The Romeros The Royal Family of the Spanish Guitar (13-19 April 1962) 434 385 B0000057NF CD 29 Frederick Fennell / Eastman Wind Ensemble Screamers - Circus Marches (6 May 1962) / March Time (16 according to CD or 19 according to Ruppli/Novitsky Oct. 1957) 432 019 B0000057L1 SACD 475 6619 B0007YP0V8 CD 30 Osipov State Russian Folk Orchestra / Vitaly Gnutov Balalaika Favorites (13 & 16 June 1962) 432 000 B0000057KI SACD 475 6610 B0007YP0UY CD 31 Byron Janis Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra / Kondrashin Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra / Rozhdestvensky Liszt: Piano Concertos 1 & 2 (14 & 15 June 1962) and Miscellaneous pieces from Liszt (6 Oct. 1961), Falla, Guion and Schumann (17 June 1962) 432 002 B0000057KK CD 32 Byron Janis Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra / Kondrashin Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.3 (8-9 June 1962) Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.1 (13 June 1962) Various solo pieces by Mendelssohn, Pinto, Prokofiev (11 & 17 June 1962), Schumann (19 Dec. 1963) 434 333 B0000057M5 SACD 475 6607 B0007YP0UE CD 33 Janos Starker / London Symphony Orchestra / Dorati Dvorák: Cello Concerto, Bruch: Kol Nidrei (6-7 & 10 July 1962); Tchaikovsky: Rococo Variations (26-27 June 1964) 432-001 B0000057KJ SACD 475 6608 B0007YP0UO CD 34 Janos Starker London Symphony Orchestra / Skrowaczewski / Dorati Schumann: Cello Concerto, Lalo: Cello Concerto (9-10 July 1962) Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto in A minor (26 June 1964) 432 010 B0000057KS SACD 475 6621 B000AC5AZS CD 35-36 Dorati Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker (LSO 11, 13, 15 July 1962); Serenade for Strings (Philharmonia Hungarica, 4 & 5 June 1958) 432 750 B0000057L5 SACD 475 6623 B000AC5B0C CD 37 Henryk Szeryng / London Symphony Orchestra / Dorati Brahms; Violin Concerto (18 & 22 July 1962) / Khachaturian: Violin Concerto (4 July 1964) 434 318 B0000057LQ CD 38 Dorati / London Symphony Orchestra Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle (19-21 July 1962) Berg: Wozzeck: 3 excerpts (19 & 22 June 1961) 434 325 B0000057LX CD 39 Gina Bachauer / London Symphony Orchestra / Skrowaczewski Brahms: Piano Concerto No.2 (6-8 & 10 July 1962), Paganini Variations Book II, Liszt Hungarian Rapsodie No. 12 (20 & 26 February 1963), Beethoven Sonata for Piano No. 9 (9 July 1963). 434 340 B0000057MC CD 40 Henryk Szeryng, Charles Reiner Kteisler Favorites (22-23 January, 13-14 February 1963) 434 351 B0000057MN CD 41-42 Janos Starker Bach: 6 Suites for unaccompanied cello .(2 & 5: April 1963, 1 & 6: Sept. 1965, 3 & 4: Dec. 1965), Sonatas for Viola da Gamba BWV 1027-1028 (with Gyorgy Sebök, 16 April 1963) 432 756 B0000057L9 SACD 470 644-2 B0001BPPNA CD 43 Gina Bachauer / London Symphony Orchestra / Dorati / Skrowacewski Beethoven: Piano Concertos 4 (7-8 July 1963) & 5 (5-6 July 1962) 432 018 B0000057L0 (The CD booklet credits Robert Eberenz (Robert Fine's associate engineer) as the engineer for these two recordings, but it's illogical: in other booklets Robert Fine is credited as the engineer of all the sessions surrounding those recording days, including some taking place on the very same days (see Chopin hereafter), and indeed Philip Stuart's LSO discography credits Fine as the engineer of those sessions. Eberenz starts being sole engineer in 1964.) CD44 Gina Bachauer / London Symphony Orchestra / Dorati Chopin: Piano Concertos 1 (8-9 July 1963) & 2 (22-23 June 1964, CD booklet omits to provide dating for this one) 434 374 B0000057N6 CD 45 Gina Bachauer / Sir John Gielgud Ravel: Gaspard de la nuit, Debussy: Pour le piano, three Preludes (1965) Stravinsky: 3 Movements from Petrouchka (1963) 434 359 B0000057MV CD 46 Janos Starker / György Sebok Brahms (25 & 26 June 1964) & Mendelssohn (9 July 1962): Cello Sonatas 434 377 B0000057N8 CD 47 Henryk Szeryng / London Symphony Orchestra / Dorati Schumann & Mendelssohn: Violin Concertos (5 & 3 July 1964) + solo pieces by Bartók, Debussy, Nová'ek. Brahms, Marroquin and Rimsky-Korsakov (13 & 14 February 1963) 434 339 B0000057MB CD 48 London Symphony Orchestra / Dorati Stravinsky: The Firebird - complete (7-9 June 1959); Feu d'artifice; Chant du rossignol, Tango, Scherzo à la Russe (22 June-7 July 1964) 432 012 B0000057KU, SACD B0000DC15L CD 49 Janos Starker Italian Cello Sonatas Bach Sonata in G Minor BWV 1029 (Gyorgy Sebök, 17 April 1963), Vivaldi, Corelli, Locatelli, Valentini, Boccherini (Stephen Swedish, 6-7 June 1966) 434 344 B0000057MG CD 50 The Romeros Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez (Angel); Concierto Andaluz (Celedonio, Celin, Pepe, Angel) Vivaldi: 3 Concertos, in B minor, C and G. San Antonio Symphony Orchestra, Victor Alessandro (21 & 13 November 1967) 434 369 B0000057N3 SACD B0002O390M Now, when does volume 2 with 50 more come out?