Review: Dorati in Detroit--A REAL Legacy
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- čas přidán 9. 07. 2024
- Antal Dorati only spent a handful of years as Music Director in Detroit, but the recordings he made there are largely outstanding, and they had an impact out of all proportion to their actual number (18 CDs, to be exact). Combining interesting repertoire with excellent performances in great sound, this box represents a mandatory acquisition for collectors.
- Hudba
When I was a music student at the University of Michigan, I had the exciting opportunity to participate as an extra with DSO as an extra with the off-stage brass during the 1812 Overture. It was an incredibly thrilling experience, to say the least. The musicians were equally excited to have Dorati as their conductor.
It's such a shame that during the time Dorati was in Detroit our wonderful and (near) acoustically perfect Orchestra Hall was a rotting, empty shell of a building (it was nearly torn down for a fast food burger chain!). It was only after his last recording in 1989 that the hall was restored and the DSO moved back to their proper home. The DSO is such an asset to our city and to see it get the recognition you generously give in this video makes me smile :)
I agree 100% with this comment.
I've seen the DSO live a half dozen or so times, and have some of their recordings. It amazes me how practically unknown they were to out of state concertgoers and the record collecting public in my younger days. Believe it or not, I used to visit Detroit just to see the orchestra. I said it nearly years ago, and I'll go to my grave saying it (hopefully not too soon): The DSO is one of the world's (not just the USA's) greatest symphony orchestras. It's given me so many wonderful musical memories. You have every right to be proud.
I omitted "I said it nearly 60 years ago,... Sorry.
Dorati was brilliant… I love his Detroit stuff
One of the points you often make is that great recordings have clear bass lines. The Dorati-Detroit Appalachian Spring has it in spades. And yes, a really beautiful performance. So evocative.
Completely agree. The wind section in those old detroit recordings is like none other. They all play with so much personality, and the different tonal colors of each player/instrument shines through the orchestra so brilliantly.
Being a Percussionist myself , I used to buy the Recordings of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra mainly for the great Percussionists within the Orchestra
I love this era of the DSO. My collection includes the original programs from the Beethoven and Brahms festivals from this time period. And - I’ve mentioned this previously - special releases from the Dorati society, including dvds of the Beethoven festival cycle from 1977, a live Mahler 6, and a Mahler 1 recorded on tour at the Edinburgh Festival in 1979.
My one regret with Dorati's remakes is that Decca didn't get him to re-record the Copland third symphony, as I've always regarded his Minneapolis mono Mercury as one of the finest recordings of that masterpiece. I totally agree with your assessment of the Mercury "Firebird". I wonder if it will ever be bettered? I also love his Detroit "Grand Canyon Suite". A much-underrated work. What a terrific Orchestra the Detroit SO was (and probably still is).
He made that amazing Messaien recording for Decca with the Washington D.C. orchestra, with Janos Starker. Did great work with the BBC orchestra. The Minnesota Mercury recordings, included a fab Rite and the reference Firebird. As you say, a great and ludicrously underrated conductor.
Thank you for this Dave! My universe of classical music keeps expanding. I love Dorati's work. I'm in your debt.
When I was in college there was a record store called "Grapevine Records" that had a HUGE classical department.
When they were going out of business I picked up his Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, and Bartok LP's (grouped together with packing tape) for $2.00 WOW!!! (also got the complete Time-Life Fiddler Boston Pops edition (8 LP's) $3.00 👍
They were all great recordings.
My Dorati box came today and it is pure joy!
Dave - 2.5 months later and i have returned to this box finally (ordered it when i listened to this video in February). Such a wonderful box set. I am a huge Dorati fan - have all of his MLP stuff of course. So fun. On disc 3 right now. Just gotta give this a listen through for the 15 hours....cheers!
Thank you for reviewing this. I've always been a Dorati fan. His was the first ever Zarathustra that I heard (along with Macbeth). It remains my favourite. There are many Zarathustra's around, but few as wonderfully recorded as this one. I also love his Brahms and Tchaikovsky symphony cycles on Mercury. I don't know why this set isn't available on Presto Music for download. I will buy it the moment it appears there! I hope it does.
WOW Dave! I haven't seen you so gushingly enthusiastic about a box set in quite awhile. I love Dorati, always have. God how sick I was in my youth to hear him referred to as somehow "second rate", especially when Karajan's name was in the mix. Dorati was a much better conductor in my opinion. The miracles he was able to achieve in front of any orchestra he touched, especially those in the US, convinced me that he was the equal to, perhaps even superior to all the bigger names in the conducting business. His name on the album cover was all I needed to see; I just reached into my wallet and bought it no questions asked. Honestly, I can't think of a single recorded "dog" in the enormous Dorati discography. I'm pretty sure you could come up with a few, but I sure can't. I remember standing in the lobby of the Frankfurt airport when I heard news of his death, and I felt such a sense of loss. I note that Amazon is releasing the Detroit set once again on April 28th, and I'm going to joyously snap it up. Thanks Dave for saluting one of the finest conductors who ever lived.
Not "once again," but for the first time. This is the new box, but it was released this month in Europe.
Everybody around here was hoping the United Artists Theater would find somebody to love it, but alas it met its date with the wrecking ball a few months back. I'm looking forward to get this box, along with the two Paray ones, to have a nice chunk of DSO history.
As a Detroit native, a lot of these were available at used CD/record shops when I was growing up; most of them had a Detroit Symphony subsection with a smattering of Dorati, Jarvi, and Paray. As such, I own lots of the single issues on Decca Jubilee, but after about 1995, I don't think most of these were easy to find. I still bought the box, if only to have them all in one place, and I think that--in terms of technical polish and sonic excellence--these probably are the very best of the DSO on disc. Period.
Forget "I've played in Carnegie Hall", "I've played in a porn theater" is my new musical ambition.
The modern Detroit Opera House was also a porno theater called the Capitol Theater before it was restored and converted for opera and other live performances.
Glad to see that these are being boxed together. Also looking forward to the forthcoming Eloquence releases of his Mercury recordings.
Just as a very late side note, the old 'porn' theatre was afterward renovated. I actually did a film shoot in its dilapidated state for a horror spoof commercial! It had been a movie palace/vaudeville theatre built in the 1920s, and had been of much repute in its heyday BEFORE Detroit emptied out and fell on hard times in the 50's thru the 80s.
Perhaps it is not a coincidence spiritually/artistically that the Ex X-rated house, is now the home of the Detroit Opera House?
One of the most thrilling live concerts I ever experienced was the Beethoven Missa Solemnis conducted by Dorati in the 80's in Tel Aviv: all heart and warmth with breath-taking dramatic power. In contrast, about the same time we had another Hungarian - Solti - conducting the Israel Phil in Mahler's Ressurection Symph to much acclaim and huge PR fanfare - but this starry-superstar left me totally cold, being all sound and furry and meaning nothing. Since then I have a soft spot for everything Dorati.
Yay! I preordered this a few days ago :)
I was actually considering this box set for my purchases this year, but I was waiting for you to say the five magic words ("Get it while you can.") before I did! :)
at the very beginning of the digital era, antal dorati's recordings in detroit found takers in my case because of the sound recording which was always high (which I compared to dutoit's recording in montreal) at the same time ) as far as I am concerned, and the discovery of an orchestra, that of Detroit, which for me was of high caliber. It is American music that I prefer in these recordings, particularly the porgy and bess suite, and the grand suite canyon..... a beautiful legacy that antal dorati left us with this orchestra, too bad it didn't continue after 18 cds.....
Very interested in this box - heard Dorati and the Detroit symphony when they appeared at RFH in London (19 Nov 1979) Their programme included Barber’s Medea’s Mediation and Dance ( Alas, the one and only time I’ve heard this fabulous piece in concert ) This box will be an essential purchase. (Perhaps Chandos should consider a Jarvi Detroit collection) And hopefully Dorati’s Decca records with the National Symphony Orchestra Washington will reappear. (It is disappointing how little reviewed this set is - thank you)
That's my favorite "Petrushka" by far. I'm not a sycophant of conductors, but I very much like Dorati. . . . I really only like the "Fanfare for the Common Man" within the context of Copland's third symphony, and not as a stand-alone work. Therefore, I rather approve of how Dorati handles the Fanfare. I saw Dorati give a great "Concerto for Orchestra" (Bartok) with the Concertgebouw in 1981.
I agree and I also have most of these recordings from back then. No problem with the sound from my end as somebody else remarked about... Especially love the Dvorak and R Strauss. Not at all familiar with the opera.
Zweite Brautnacht. FABULOUS
Could you please review Cécile Ousset's complete recordings on Warner?
Darn you, I'll have to order this now. The Grofé CD is the only one I already have in my collection. It's marvelous by performance, sonics, and otherwise. The thunderstorm can rattle my building. Meanwhile, I would be interested in boxed sets of the earlier Minneapolis & London MLP discs including some of the same repertoire. Does any such thing exist? I do own a few of these individually. The Rite of Spring recording at Northrup Auditorium from 1959 here in Minneapolis is no slouch!
They are in the Mercury Living Presence boxes, if you can still find them.
video idea - weekly discussion of latest news in classical music, such as Dudamel's NY defection.
Oh, that's not for me. I couldn't care less, and there's no value (for me) in preserving yesterday's news.
Dave, I remember reading in the Wall Street Journal that Dorati experienced hearing problems when he took over the Detroit Symphony. Was that why his tenure in Detroit was so short?
No. He (and the orchestra) got screwed by the Trustees as a result of funding problems...the usual story.
I have a technical question which relates to musical criticsm (and perhaps on how the Dave Hurwitz brain functions). When you do box / repertoire reviews, you give your opinion on the quality of the performances. How do you do this? When you state, for argument's sake, that the Bartok Suite no 1 is "fabulous". Does that mean that you have a clear recollection of the recording in your brain (i.e. you can recognise the recording when it is playing / play it in your head) or do you remember that "This recording is great because I listened to it 4 years ago and I then thought it was great"?. Or is it a combination of the two? Or something completely different?
It's a combination of the two, but if I don't have a clear recollection of what the performance actually sounds like, or if my view of the work or the discography has changed (either for itself or in light of many intervening versions) I listen to it again to refresh my memory and confirm my recollection. Sometimes I emerge from the experience with a very different opinion!
I'd be happy to write a little bit about "Die Aegyptische Helena" which, seen through a bourgeois-enough lense, makes total sense as a tale of love, failure, and forgiveness.
Thanks for the offer, but you'll never make sense of the psychic clam.
@@DavesClassicalGuide :-) Ha, yes, that's a tough one. I plead suspension of disbelief.
And just when I was going to not buy any more cds until the current pile is listened to...what the heck.
Hi Dave how about a series on Haydn operas based on Dorati as pioneering anchor and later recordings as competition…You will have an excuse to bring down the opera boxes (yellow colored?) 😊
Or Iphegenia in Brooklyn (Apologies Mr Schikele)
Re the strange story of 'The Egyptian Helen':Which would you say are the operas with excellent music but the most appalling librettos, real messes. For one, I would suggest 'La forza del destino'.