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Reviewed by Richard Freed
TWENTY-TWO years ago, with the release of the Kubelik/Chicago Symphony Pictures at an Exhibition, the Mercury label became one to conjure with on the classical scene. Mercury left Chicago about the same time Rafael Kubelik did, but continued re cording in Minneapolis, Detroit, and Rochester and began a very productive series with Antal Dorati in London. This continued for a time after the company was acquired by Philips, but during the last few years Phonogram (as the Philips combine is called now) has phased out Mercury's classical activity until about all that remains in Schwann is a handful of Dorati's London recordings. Last winter several of the Kubelik mono recordings were beautifully remastered and reissued in two three-disc sets (STEREO REVIEW, March 1973). Now, again without any advance announcement, Phonogram has another surprise for us: the Mercury "Golden Imports." In the initial release of this series, eighteen of the deleted Mercury discs have been reinstated, more or less as originally constituted, but all re-mastered and in immaculate Dutch pressings uniformly superior to the earlier domes tic product. (The U.S. Mercury discs were extremely brilliant, but many of them had a hard, dryish quality, and the surfaces were frequently obtrusive.) Ten of the eighteen discs feature Antal Dorati, the star conductor around whom the bulk of Mercury's stereo classical catalog was built. Four represent the company's notable series from Howard Hanson's annual Festivals of American Music at the Eastman School in Rochester, one is with Paul Paray and the Detroit Symphony (which is also heard on Dorati's Richard Strauss disc), one by organist Marcel Dupre (who is also in Paray's Saint-Sans), one by the Romero family of guitarists, and one.
with pianist Byron Janis, represents the first recording made by a Western company in the U.S.S.R. Several of these records are of more than passing interest; some were entering the collector's-item category and will be especially welcome.
The most desirable item of the lot, I think.
is Dorati's marvelous disc of Respighi's three suites of Ancient Airs and Dances with the Philharmonia Hungarica, which was taped in Vienna in May 1958. There has been no other recording of the first two suites for some time, and it is virtually in conceivable that anyone could match Dorati's realization of these scores. The Respighi record with the London Symphony is a charmer, too, as are the Rimsky-Korsakov/Borodin collection on SRI 75016 and the Liszt and Enesco rhapsodies on SRI 75018. I have never heard the Enesco pieces invested with quite so much individuality (it doesn't-get in the way-it works); Dorati's pre-eminence in the Liszt, of course, was no surprise, and I hope his record of the four remaining rhapsodies will be reissued, too.
The Minneapolis material does sound dated, despite the lifelike bells and artillery in 1812. The ballet suites on SRI 75014 and the Bartok Concerto with Yehudi Menuhin come off best. Graduation Ball is Dorati's own creation-no other conductor has made it nearly so much fun-and the sound is very good indeed (as it was when last available on Wing SRW 18099 for $1.89), but the Offenbach is perhaps a little on the hard side.
Howard Hanson also happened to make three recordings of his Second Symphony, which is surely the best-known of all his works and a landmark of sorts in the evolution of American music. The recording listed here, the only one he made in stereo, is a stunning presentation. To Mercury's credit, the domestic editions of this and the Bloch Concerti Grossi were not withdrawn until the new imports were released. The Bloch record is less distinguished than the Hanson, but it does fill what would otherwise be a gap in that composer's discography.
As "British Band Classics," the Holst and Vaughan Williams works now on SRI 75011 constituted one of the most popular items in Mercury's pre-stereo catalog, and deservedly so. The Percy Grainger piece was added when the package was remastered in phony stereo a dozen years ago. In this one case, I feel my old copy of the original mono, MG-50088, packs more of a wallop, but if I did not have it for comparison I would be bowled over by the new release.
This is the only_ disc among the "Golden Imports" which is not in genuine stereo, but it is a more successful simulation than the earlier domestic effort. (Actually, the stereo spread on the other seventeen records is rather minimal.) The Hovhaness Fourth Symphony is most welcome, too, since the composer has not yet recorded that work himself on Poseidon, and Roller did a fine job with it.
Byron Janis' Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff concerto package, the most recently re corded (1962) of the orchestral offerings in this list, is a thoroughly creditable job on all counts and fully merits reinstatement. Paray's Saint-Satins has been sonically superseded by a number of others, but Dupre's Franck will always be of interest and, for guitar aficionados, so will the Romeros' "Evening." Not all the records in this initial release are equally attractive, of course, but anyone familiar with the catalog will have his own ideas about what should be in the next batch. Dorati's Berg/Webern/Schoenberg disc with the London Symphony certainly ought to be brought back, as should his pairing of the Lulu and Wozzeck suites and his complete Firebird and Miraculous Mandarin. More of the Hanson material ought to be available, too: Samuel Barber's Capri corn Concerto and Medea, Elliott Carter's ballet The Minotaur, Virgil Thomson's Symphony on a Hymn Tune, Bernard Rogers' Leaves from the Tale of Pinocchio, John Alden Carpenter's Adventures in a Perambulator, Douglas Moore's Pageant of P. T. Barnum, Hanson's own First and Third Symphonies (No. 1- on a single side this time, please)- these would provide a valuable documentation of interesting sectors of American musical activity not covered elsewhere, especially now, so close to Bicentennial time.
Since the sequence of catalog numbers for these eighteen "Golden Imports" discloses five omissions, it would seem that at least that many more reissues are on the way.
What they are and when they will appear, Phonogram has not announced. The company has said that it intends to "wait and see" what kind of reception the first batch gets before proceeding further. But, happy as I am to see some of these records back, I can not be optimistic about the record-buying public's response to them at this price. The pressings are great, but, for reissues of material going back to the mid-Fifties, $6.98 seems outrageous. Some of these very recordings, after all, were available quite recently in Mercury's domestically pressed Wing series at only $1.89.
London's Stereo Treasury Series, which includes not only reissues of first-rate recordings by Monteux, Maag,. and Karajan but also the brand-new Haydn symphony cycle conducted by Dorati, is imported at only $2.98 per disc; why must Mercury ask
$6.98 for the same conductor's 1958 Respighi (with the same orchestra) and a 1955 recording that isn't even real stereo? Realistically priced, I think the "Golden Im ports" could be a real success; at $6.98 a throw, I suspect the series may generate more resentment than enthusiasm. Since the project in general is as welcome as it is surprising, I hope Phonogram will reconsider the price in order to give the "Golden Imports" their best chance with the public.
THE MERCURY "GOLDEN IMPORTS" (All discs genuine stereo except SRI 75011: $6.98 each.) TCHAIKOVSKY: 1812 Overture, Op. 49;
Capriccio Italien, Op. 45. Deems Taylor (spoken commentary in 1812); Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, Paul Paray cond. SRI 75001.
BARTOK: Violin Concerto No. 2. Yehudi Menuhin (violin); Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, Antal Dorati cond. SRI 75002.
SAINT-SAENS: Symphony No. 3, in C Mi nor, Op. 78. Marcel Dupre (organ); Detroit
Symphony Orchestra, Paul Paray cond. SRI 75003.
HANDEL (arr. Harty): Water Music Suite;
Music for the Royal Fireworks. London Symphony Orchestra, Antal Dorati cond. SRI 75005.
FRANCK: Piece Heroique; Three Chorales.
Marcel Dupre (organ of St. Thomas' Church, New York). SRI 75006.
HANSON: Symphony No. 2, Op. 30 ("Ro mantic"); The Lament for Beowulf, Op. 25.
Eastman School of Music Chorus (in Lament): Eastman-Rochester Orchestra, Howard Hanson cond. SRI 75007.
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Scheherazade, Op. 35. Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, Antal Dorati cond. SRI 75008.
RESPIGHI: Ancient Airs and Dances, Suites Nos. 1-3. Philharmonia Hungarica, Antal Dorati cond. SRI 75009.
HOVHANESS: Symphony No. 4. GIANNINI: Symphony No. 3. Eastman Symphonic Wind Ensemble, A. Clyde Roller cond. SRI 75010.
HOLST: Suites Nos. 1 and 2 for Military Band, Op. 28. VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Eng lish Folk Song Suite; Toccata Marziale.
GRAINGER: Hill Song No. 2. Eastman Wind Ensemble, Frederick Fennell cond.
SRI 75011 (in simulated stereo from mono original).
J. STRAUSS (arr. Dorati): Graduation Ball.
OFFENBACH (arr. Rosenthal): Gaite Parisienne. Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, Antal Dorati cond. SRI 75014.
R. STRAUSS (arr. Dorati): Der Rosenkavalier Suite, Op. 59. R. STRAUSS: Don Juan, Op. 20. Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, Antal Dorati cond. Salome: Dance of the Seven Veils, Op. 58. Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Paul Paray cond. SRI 75015.
RIMSK Y-KORSAKOV: Le Coq d'Or Suite. BORODIN: Prince Igor: Overture, Polvision Dances. London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Antal Dorati cond. SRI 75016.
BLOCH: Concerti Grossi, Nos. 1 and 2, for String Orchestra. Eastman-Rochester Orchestra, Howard Hanson cond. SRI 75017.
LISZT: Hungarian Rhapsodies Nos. 3 and 4.
ENESCO: Rumanian Rhapsodies Nos. 1 and 2, Op. 11. London Symphony Orchestra, Antal Dorati cond. SRI 75018.
PROKOFIEV: Piano Concerto No. 3, in C Major, Op. 26.
RACHMANINOFF: Concerto No. 1, in F-sharp Minor, Op. 1. Byron Janis (piano); Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Kirll Kondrashin cond. SRI 75019.
AN EVENING WITH THE ROMEROS. Bach: Little Prelude No. 3. Breton: Joto from "La Dolores." Granados: Spanish Dance No. 10. Scarlatti: Sonata in D Major (K. 391). Schubert: Two Waltzes, Op. 9. Sor: Variations on a Theme by Mozart. Telemann: Allegro, from Concerto in D Major. Villa-Lobos: Prelude No. 1, in E Minor. Vi valdi: Concerto in D Major (P. 209). Celedonio, Pepe, Celin, and Angel Romero (guitars, in various combinations and solos). SRI 75022.
RESPIGHI: The Birds; Brazilian Impressions. London Symphony Orchestra, Antal Dorati cond. SRI 75023.
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Also see:
THE COMPLETE RACHMANINOFF -- Fifteen discs, five albums--every note he ever recorded, ERIC SALZMAN
RAYMOND LEPPARD--A scholar-performer who hears-and understands--his critics.
THE BASIC REPERTOIRE--Schubert's Symphony No. 2, MARTIN BOOKSPAN