Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Time to Update Mr. Richman's Fine Comments, January 9, 2007
It is not often I get to add to one of Amazon's great reviewers. It is funny how much I rely on these reviews together with the snippets of sound to risk my money.
Mercury Living Presence, compared to 2003, is not dying. The reissue catalog has grown with several new efforts. Decca now owns the Mercury catalog and has some 61 on CD, including this one. In addition, they have issued some 29 on SACD. Finally, for those of you who are lucky enough to have your turntables, Speaker's Corner has them on new super vinyl pressings that are worth an additional one or two stars. (For the real fanatics, there are 45 rpm sets which are scary good!) So, depending on what you listen on, go get 'em.
This particular gem is one of the few that keep Auric and Francaix in the company of their better known circle mates, Satie and Milhaud. If you do not know them, start here and be confident that there is plenty of the better knowns to fill this fine recording out.
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6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Get Mercury Living Presence Before Its Dead, July 14, 2003
When I first started collecting classical CDs, I only had a few Mercury Living Presence (MLP) titles. In my quest to get the absolute best, or at least a definitive recording, of the major works of the standard repertoire, MLP discs rarely topped the critics' lists. In fact, only three MLP recordings have been earmarked as "Essential Recordings" by amazon -- Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, Byron Janis performing Rachmaninov's 2nd & 3rd Piano Concertos, and Yehudi Menuhin performing Bartok's 2nd Violin Concerto, all three with Antal Dorati as conductor. It is also safe to say that three other titles are equally essential for their historical value alone. They are Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake by Dorati (the first recording of the complete ballet), Janis performing Liszt's Piano Concertos (the first recordings made in the Soviet Union by American technicians, musical staff and equipment), and Kubelik's Chicago Symphony performance of Pictures at an Exhibition (one of, if not the single best mono recording ever, and the one that led the New York Times critic to coin the phrase "Living Presence," from which the label named its series). But how does a CD line go from having a half-dozen must have recordings, to being this reviewer's all-time favorite classical label?The answer: consistently magical performances, captured in brilliant golden-age stereo sound, that offer a slightly different take on your typical interpretation of the great works. However, the treat here is rarely recorded compositions by four great French composers and one American. Dorati and the LSO makes lesser known works by Satie and Milhaud, and pieces by relative unknowns Auric and Francaix, sound like they belong in the classical canon. Dorati produces equal results with the MSO on Paul Fetler's Contrasts for Orchestra. Maybe that is why collectors prize these recordings, because they are a breath of fresh air in a homogenized world of listening. Of course, collectors love a challenge too, and MLP CDs are becoming increasingly hard to find. It has taken years for me to finally find all of the MLP CDs released to date, and unfortunately I don't think there will be any new releases forthcoming. So collectors, and even those who aspire to be, should pick up as many Mercury Living Presence discs as possible now, before they all die.
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~ Johannes Brahms
~ Franz Joseph Haydn
~ Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky
~ Manuel de Falla
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