0028948423187

Paul Paray - The Mercury Masters Vol. 1

Paul Paray; Detroit Symphony Orchestra

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Format: 23CD

Cat No: ELQ4842318

Release Date:  15 July 2022

Label:  Australian Eloquence

Packaging Type:  Box Set

No of Units:  23

Barcode:  0028948423187

Genres:  Classical  Orchestral  

  • Description

    Covering the first five years of their partnership on Mercury, this edition celebrates the legacy of French conductor, Paul Paray and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

    Recorded from 1953 to 1957, during the golden era of the orchestra, this original jacket collection includes both mono and early stereo recordings, remastered from the original sources by Thomas Fine. They are presented chronologically as when first issued.



    The activities of the Detroit Symphony had been suspended for two years when Paul Paray took over in 1951, and within a season he had raised them to a standard of excellence drawing breathless praise from exacting New York critics such as Virgil Thomson and Harold C. Schonberg. The partnership also kindled a renaissance in Paray's career, and the ten-year period of his directorship was the most successful and fulfilling of his career.



    The recently founded classical division of the Mercury label quickly spotted the unique qualities of the DSO/Paray partnership, and signed them up to an exclusive contract which produced several new albums a year and played to the strengths of Paray in both French and German music. Critics outside France were initially taken aback by his swift tempi in Beethoven and other composers, but Paray's approach now seems strikingly ahead of its time.

    Covering the first five years of the DSO/Paray albums on Mercury, including both mono and early stereo recordings, Volume 1 includes three spine-tingling Wagner recordings; a fiery account of the Franck Symphony which immediately invited comparison with Toscanini; a Rimsky-Korsakov album which introduced thousands of listeners to the lovable 'Antar' Symphony; the first three volumes of a Schumann cycle which Paray esteemed as his proudest achievement on record; Saint-Saens 'Organ' symphony, which reunited Paray with his childhood friend Marcel Dupré at the new Aeolian-Skinner organ of the Ford Auditorium in Detroit; and Paray's own deeply felt Mass for the 500th Anniversary of the Death of Joan of Arc.

    Recordings in this new set have been remastered from the original sources by Thomas Fine, son of the Mercury producer Wilma Cozart Fine and the label's chief engineer Robert Fine. They are presented in this original jacket collection as they were first issued, and accompanied by a richly illustrated booklet which contains essays on the sessions by Thomas Fine and on the DSO/Paray partnership by Peter Quantrill.

    "Judging from the first releases by him and the newly resuscitated Detroit Symphony Orchestra, [Paray] should soon come into his own. His reading of this much-played symphony is a thrill from start to finish." High Fidelity, November 1953 (Franck)



    "Once again, Paray reveals his mastery at interpreting modern French music. The [Pelléas Suite] emerges as the essence of beauty and simplicity, while La Valse, infused with new life, is made to rise to thrilling dramatic heights." High Fidelity, December 1954 (Fauré/Franck/Ravel)



    "[The DSO] play French music with altogether admirable style and technique, and though the former may be due to Paray's expert coaching, the latter is very clearly their own possession – and a most remarkable one it is." Gramophone, February 1955 (Dukas/Fauré/Roussel)



    "Recommended without reserve … Paray and his orchestra play each [excerpt] most sympathetically … the Tristan Prelude is extremely well built by Paray." Gramophone, July 1957 (Wagner)

    "may we, Maestro Paray, turn the tables and thank you with all our hearts for an incredible series of performances, life-enhancing to say the least; and thanks to the Mercury team responsible for the original recordings and these superb refurbishments […] sounding as alive now as they did when first released. They're not to be missed an any account. […] Buy both. You won't regret it" – Gramophone


  • Tracklisting

      Disc 1

      Side 1

      • 1. MAURICE RAVEL: Bolero, M.81
      • 2. RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Capriccio Espagnol, Op. 34

      Disc 2

      • 1. RICHARD WAGNER: Lohengrin: Preludes To Acts I & III
      • 2. Die Meistersinger Von Nürnberg: Prelude To Act I
      • 3. Tannhauser: Overture
      • 4. Die Walküre: The Ride Of The Valkyries (Act III)

      Disc 3

      • 1. LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 7 In A Major, Op. 92

      Disc 4

      • 1. CESAR FRANCK: Symphony In D Minor

      Disc 5

      • 1. NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Russian Easter Overture, Op. 36
      • 2. Symphony No. 2, Op. 9 ‘Antar’

      Disc 6

      • 1. MAURICE RAVEL: La Valse
      • 2. GABRIEL FAURE: Pavane, Op. 50 (orchestral Version)
      • 3. CESAR FRANCK: Psyche – Poeme Symphonique (excerpts)

      Disc 7

      • 1. PAUL DUKAS: L’Apprenti Sorcier
      • 2. GABRIEL FAURE: Pelleas Et Melisande – Incidental Music, Op. 80
      • 3. ALBERT ROUSELL: Le Festin De L’araignee, Op. 17
      • 4. PAUL DUKAS: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

      Disc 8

      • 1. ROBERT SCHUMANN: Symphony No. 4 In D Minor, Op. 120
      • 2. FRANZ LISZT: Les Preludes

      Disc 9

      • 1. RICHARD WAGNER: Der Fliegende Hollander: Overture
      • 2. Parsifal: Good Friday Music (Act III)
      • 3. Tristan Und Isolde: Prelude And Liebestod (Act III) (orchestral Version)
      • 4. Siegfried: Forest Murmurs (Act II)

      Disc 10

      • 1. LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 6 In F Major, Op. 68 ‘Pastoral’

      Disc 11

      • 1. EMMANUEL CHABRIER: Espana – Rhapsody For Orchestra
      • 2. MAURICE RAVEL: Rapsodie Espagnole, M.54
      • 3. JACQUES IBERT: Escales

      Disc 12

      • 1. JOHANNES BRAHMS: Symphony No. 4 In E Minor, Op. 98

      Disc 13

      • 1. GEORGES BIZET: Carmen Suite
      • 2. L’Arlesienne – Suite No. 1
      • 3. L’Arlesienne – Suite No. 2

      Disc 14

      • 1. MAURICE RAVEL: Bolero, M.81
      • 2. Ma Mère L’oye, M.60
      • 3. EMMANUEL CHABRIER: Bourree Fantasque (orch. Mottl)
      • 4. ALBERT ROUSSEL: Suite In F Major, Op. 33
      • 5. HENRY BARRAUD: Offrande A Une Ombre

      Disc 15

      • 1. CLAUDE DEBUSSY: La Mer, L.109
      • 2. Iberia (No. 2 Of Images Pour Orchestre)

      Disc 16

      • 1. CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS: Symphony No. 3 In C Minor, Op. 78 ‘Organ Symphony’

      Disc 17

      • 1. ERNEST CHAUSSON: Symphony In B Flat Major, Op. 20

      Disc 18

      • 1. SERGEI RACHMANINOFF: Symphony No. 2 In E Minor, Op. 27

      Disc 19

      • 1. ROBERT SCHUMANN: Symphony No. 2 In C Major, Op. 61

      Disc 20

      • 1. RICHARD WAGNER: Gotterdammerung: Prologue – Dawn And Siegfried’s Rhine Journey (Act I)
      • 2. Siegfried Idyll
      • 3. Parsifal: Prelude
      • 4. Tristan Und Isolde: Prelude (Act III)

      Disc 21

      • 1. PAUL PARAY: 1–4 Mass For The 500th Anniversary Of The Death Of Joan Of Arc
      • 5. Paul Paray’s Post-session Thanks To The Performers

      Disc 22

      • 1. WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART: Symphony No. 35 In D Major, KV 385, ‘Haffner’
      • 4. JOSEPH HAYDN: Symphony No. 96 In D Major, Hob.I:96, ‘The Miracle’

      Disc 23

      • 1. ROBERT SCHUMANN: Symphony No. 3 In E Flat Major, Op. 97 ‘Rhenish’