Dorati National

Although Hungarian by birth, it was only later in his career that Franz Liszt came to be regarded as a Hungarian national hero. His fifteen Hungarian Rhapsodies, piano pieces in Hungarian gypsy style, won wide popularity, and six of these were later orchestrated, with the help of flautist and conductor Franz Doppler, to whom Liszt himself gave full credit for the work. The six orchestrations are, themselves, lively instrumental pieces, performed on this recording by Antal Doráti & London Symphony Orchestra.

This album is a superb recording of Haydn's oratorio The Creation conducted by Antal Dorati and featuring the incredible voices of bass Kurt Moll and soprano Lucia Popp. There is another recording I like, an obscure recording with Roland Bader conducting the Cracow National Philharmonic and the voices of soprano Teresa Seidl, tenor Christian Elsner and baritone Michael Volle. This recording is the best and the singers are divine and it's too bad it's not really well known or circulated. But this recording is dynamic and powerful and beautiful. It would be my second choice of favorite.

There are many different musical "Seasons" aside from Vivaldi's, and next to Haydn's oratorio of the same name, this is probably the most famous example. The complete ballet is of modest length–only 40 minutes or so–and the autumn "Bacchanal" contains what is probably the catchiest tune that Glazunov ever wrote. You'll probably think that you've heard it before, but can't quite figure out where. Neeme Jarvi is always at his best in big, splashy Romantic pieces, and this performance is no exception. He whips the orchestra up to a fine frenzy where necessary, and given Chandos's fine sound and a sensible coupling, you're in for some good listening.

Hyperion’s Romantic Violin Concerto series reaches its tenth volume, and turns to two composers based in England, and works by them which have lain hidden for decades. This disc provides a fascinating glimpse of musical history and the shifting fashions of the age which made fame such a fleeting thing for so many composers.

Decca/London introduced Phase 4 Stereo in 1961. For classical music, the Phase 4 approach was based on miking every orchestra section individually, along with mics for selected instruments – up to a maximum of 20 channels, which were then mixed via a recording console. This resulted in a dynamic, in your face sound with relatively little hall ambience. The quality of the sound mostly depended on how skillfully the recording engineer balanced each channel – and the results were not always consistent. Thus, the Phase 4 sound was the antithesis of the minimally miked, “simplicity is wisdom” approach of the RCA’s early Living Stereo and Mercury’s Living Presence recordings, along with Telarc’s early digital recordings.

This 50-CD collection of analogue albums aims to represent the heyday of Philips’ passion for great natural sound – the Stereo Years. There was a firm belief within the label’s team that recording technique was there to serve the music - the Musicians had their own views about how any given piece should be interpreted and how it should sound; the recording team’s job was to grasp that vision and make it a reality. This recording philosophy, combined with great artistry and visionary repertoire policy, created a special chapter in the history of classical music recordings that still inspires artists, sound engineers and collectors alike.