Mercury Living Presence Vol.2 / Various

Mercury Living Presence Vol.2 / Various

This new collection of 55 CDs from the acclaimed audiophile label offers a wealth of recordings from the 1950s and 1960s in an unrivaled range of repertory.<br><br>This ranges from solo Bach played by harpsichordist Rafael Puyana to American composer and conductor Howard Hanson in his own works as well as music by fellow-Americans. Key artists include Antal Dorati in works ranging from Beethoven to Bartok and Berg; Frederick Fennell, Rafael Kubelík, Paul Paray and Janos Starker.<br><br>An extensive 182 page booklet includes new essays on the history and development of the Mercury label by Thomas Fine (son of Wilma Cozart Fine, legendary producer of the MLP label) and Mike Gray. <br><br>Numerous photographs are included and full recording information is documented. When we say full recording information, we mean it too. All the details collectors love to see is here: the microphones, the recording location, the original engineers, the subsequent remastering engineers, even the type of recording equipment.<br><br>Two CDs of true rarities are included: Doratis 1953 mono recording of The Rite of Spring; and making its first-ever appearance on CD is John Coriglianos Piano Concerto. <br><br>The CD also includes a rare 16 minute interview with Corigliano and pianist Hilde Somer.<br><br>Mercury Living Presence is special in many ways - an American company, from the heyday of classical recording in the U.S., that reproduced some of the most sonically realistic recordings at the dawn of the stereo era. Precious few stereo LPs were pressed when these recordings were issued, and they became some of the rarest, most collectible classical discs ever. <br><br>Mercury Living Presence continues to enjoy a special reputation as one of the most enterprising, prestigious and sonically-spectacular labels in the history of classical recording.<br><br>1 DORATI Schoenberg Webern Berg<br>2 RORATI Respighi: The Birds Fountains & Pines of Rome<br>3 DORAT Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra Dance Suite<br>4 DORATI Respighi: Ancient Airs and Dances<br>5 DORATI Dvorák: Symphonies 7 & 8<br>6 DORATI Gershwin Copland Schuller Bloch<br>7 DORATI Satie Milhaud Auric Françaix<br>8 DORATI Tchaikovsky: Symphony 6 Pathétique <br>9 DORATI Bartók: The Wooden Prince<br>10 DORATI Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin<br>11 DORATI Tchaikovsky: Symphony 4 Borodin<br>12 DORATI Beethoven: Symphonies 5 & 6<br>13 DORATI Albéniz Falla Mussorgsky<br>14 KUBELIK Hindemith Schoenberg Kodály<br>15 DORATI Beethoven: Symphony 7 Overtures<br>16-17 DORATI Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake<br>18-20 FISTOULARI & DORATI<br>Delibes: Sylvia Coppélia<br>21 MARCEL DUPRÉ Widor Franck<br>22 FENNELL Leroy Anderson<br>23 FENNELL Grainger Persichetti Khachaturian<br>24 FENNELL ROLLER Gould Giannini Hovhaness<br>25 FENNELL Grainger Coates<br>26 FENNELL Hands Across the Sea<br>27 FENNELL Coates Anderson<br>28 FENNELL The Spirit of 76 Ruffles & Flourishes<br>29 FENNELL Mozart R. Strauss Milhaud<br>30 FENNELL Holst Vaughan Williams Mennin<br>31 HANSON Hanson: Symphonies 1 & 2<br>32 HANSON Gould Barber<br>33 HANSON Ives Schumann Mennin<br>34 HANSON Hanson: Symphony 3 Elegy Lament<br>35 HANSON Barber Piston Griffes Kennan<br>36 HANSON McPhee Sessions Thomson<br>37 HANSON Moore Carpenter Rogers Phillips<br>38 HANSON Chadwick MacDowell Peter<br>39 HANSON Music for Quiet Listening Vol.1<br>40 HANSON Music for Quiet Listening Vol.2<br>41 KUBELIK Mozart: Symphony 38 Dvorák: Symphony 9<br>42 PARAY Ibert: Escales Ravel: Rapsodie Espagnole<br>43 PARAY French Opera Highlights: Hérold Auber Gounod<br>44 PARAY Saint-Saëns: Organ Symphony Paray: Mass<br>45 PARAY Chabrier Roussel<br>46 PARAY Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé Suite 2 Debussy: Nocturnes<br>47 PARAY Bizet: Carmen Suite L Arlésienne Suites 1 & 2 Thomas<br>48 PARAY Dances of Death: Liszt Weber Saint-Saëns Schmitt