Post Description
Mercury Living Presence Boxed Set CD43 van55.
Paul Paray is a passionate Frenchman that build a great orchestra in Detroit and with it made some of Mercury's most wonderful recordings.
This almost impossible-to-find recording of the Berlioz "Symphonie Fantastique" is in a class all it's own. I own quite a few recordings of this wonderful symphony (and some are quite good) but none of them has the fire and excitement of this classic Mercury Living Presence issue. The recording dates back to 1959 and sounds amazing in it's clarity. Toward the beginning of the 5th movement "Dream of a Witches' Sabbath" you can actually hear the entrance of the idee fixe theme played by the solo E-flat clarinet. In most recordings this solo starts much too quietly, but here the theme is plump and proud in all it's naughtiness! This is one example of many such orchestral details that are astounding. You can tell that Paul Paray and the Detroit Symphony are just relishing playing this symphony. The emotion and drive from the beginning until the end never lets up. To make this "collector's disc" (if you are lucky enough to find a copy) even more appealing is the generous addition of The Hungarian March, Trojan March, Corsair Overture, and Roman Carnival Overture. All played with the same brillance as in the symphony.
Comments # 0