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Antal Dorati Recordings

10K views 53 replies 32 participants last post by  89Koechel 
#1 ·
Hungarian conductor Antal Dorati (1906-1988). What are some of your favorite recordings. I waited too long to start collecting his stuff and much of it is out of print. But I love his Messiaen recordings.
 
#9 ·
- Stravinsky on Mercury (more legendary) or Decca (better sound), especially the Firebird but Le Sacre and Petrouchka are still very good.
- Any other "orchestral spectacular" from his 1980s Decca recordings (Slavonic Dances, Copland etc.)
- Prokofiev: Scythian suite, 5th symphony (Mercury)
- Bartok; I only know the Mercury, not all equally good and some prefer the later Decca
- Kodaly; admittedly, I got this more for completeness.
- Tchaikovsky orchestral suites (basically the only major recording of this (non-essential) music, I have not heard his highly regarded ballets and symphonies but there is obviously far more competition)

The Haydn symphonies were historically important but what I have heard of them seemed a mixed bag as is to be expected with such a large project. I don't know if they can be sampled by streaming; I'd certainly hesitate buying the whole box; the 4? disc boxes of the early 1990s can still be found used.
I think his #90 is still one of the best (Rattle probably being the other main contender) but overall the Haydn discography has improved a lot in the almost 50 years since the Dorati was recorded.
 
#14 · (Edited)
Both Nutcracker recordings.

The Mercury is one of the very best sounding and has a fabulous Serenade for Strings recording too. I have the SACD version, which is long OOP and mucho expensivo when available. A Complete Dorati Mercury box will surface with Tom Fine supervised remasters. It may be best to wait for that.



The Philips Concertgebouw recording, which has had numerous CD versions over the years, is special because of the orchestra and venue. There is a sumptuous quality to the Philips set that makes it a must have, for me at least.

The original LP cover:



The most recent remaster:



 
#15 ·
Agree with the Tchaikovsky Symphonies (I have #1-3).

I too have is BIS CD of his own two symphonies and I would say he was a decent composer.

Here's one not mentioned so far:
 
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#19 · (Edited)
Great posts, folks. Most everything that I would have mentioned has already been covered--especially Dorati's excellent Bartok & Stravinsky, so there's not much point in my posting.

I don't mean to be a downer but, in my view, Dorati's Haydn Symphonies have been surpassed in the decades since he recorded his cycle--by the likes of Sir Colin Davis, Leonard Bernstein, Adam Fischer, (& maybe Leonard Slatkin & Thomas Fey? whose Haydn gets very well reviewed, but I've not heard it myself); as well as by a multitude of period conductors, who have had the considerable advantage of a more up to date scholarly understanding of the performance practices, instruments, & expectations of Haydn's day--especially Frans Bruggen, Giovanni Antonini, & Christopher Hogwood (but also arguably Sigiswald Kuijken, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Ton Koopman, Trevor Pinnock, Manfred Huss, & Nicholas McGegan...). However, Dorati is still the only conductor to tackle Haydn's operas extensively--with the Orchestre de Chambre Lausanne, for Philips. Surprisingly, no conductor in more recent times has wanted to do a complete series of them, as far as I'm aware. So, from that standpoint, Dorati's 20 CDs covering all of Haydn's opera output (or nearly so?) remains an invaluable survey for Haydn buffs!: https://www.amazon.com/Haydn-Operas-Various-Artists/dp/B002EPLGWU.

(By the way, I should also mention that Mrs. Antal Dorati, pianist Ilse von Alpenheim recorded an excellent survey of Haydn's Complete Piano Sonatas back in the 1970s, as well--which I would like to see come back into print: )
 
#23 ·
Dorati's Le Sacre du printemps on both Mercury and Decca are great accounts.

The Minneapolis account is full of overflowing raw power. It is truly phenomenal. The edgy, squeaky Mercury Living Presence sound may have also contributed to it (in a positive way, perhaps surprisingly). In fact I am not troubled by the dry, rough, dated sound. I am more troubled by the fake soundstage and unnatural highlighting created by Mercury.

On the other hand, his Detroit remake is more refined, less wayward and much slower, but arguably it also hits harder. Decca back in 1981 still produced great recordings, which definitely helps. The wiggling grooves on the LP are also quite a sight.
 
#25 ·
It's also worth remembering that Choral Music on Record listed "Dorati's exciting evocation of the gargantuan 1784 Westminster Abbey Commemoration performance" as one of the five recordings that "a core collection of Messiahs should include."

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"A sensitive recreation of the spirit, if not the letter, of the 1784 Westminster Abbey Commemoration Messiah.... The vast reverberance of the National Cathedral, Washington, DC, is not unlike that of Westminster Abbey, and the performance, under the direction of Antal Dorati, crackles with charisma and excitement.... A particularly fine solo quartet-soprano Edith Mathis, counter-tenor James Bowman, tenor Claes Ahnsjö, and bass Tom Krause-sang the solos.... The Westminster Abbey Commemoration version has been duplicated as exactly as possible in the Dorati recording" (Teri Noel Towe in Choral Music on Record, pp. 78, 100).
 
#30 ·
I've always found the Mercury recordings of Dorati/Minneapolis, Paray/Detroit to be somewhat thin and scrawny sounding...just not enough heft in the brass and lower woodwinds especially....I thought it might be Mercury's recording, but I don't think that holds up - their recordings with Dorati/LSO, Fennell/EastmanWE and Kubelik/Chicago do not suffer from that sonic anemia at all...they sound terrific, overall....
Perhaps it was the recording venues?? or perhaps they simply didn't have the musicians who could put the sound out?? Long. long ago, I heard Paray/Detroit perform Sibelius #2 live in a local theater...it sounded fine [I was in HS at the time].....but I remember how much more sonorous the Ormandy/Phila was when I heard them play the same work live a couple of years later..
but, that was many moons ago, and audio memory is notoriously short-lived.....
 
#31 ·
Dorati's Bartok and Kodaly are probably my favorites, but here are two more very good Dorati/LSO LPs I found in the bins over the years that haven't been mentioned yet. You might not think of Dorati as a leading Wagner proponent, but this is one of my favorite Wagner "excerpt" LPs, which is how I like to listen to Wagner. Szeryng recorded the Brahms concerto with Monteux and Haitink as well as Dorati, but I think Dorati's version is especially good.

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Musical instrument Violin family Classical music Violist Music
 
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