Here's a find from the three for a dollar box at "In Your Ear!" This, of course, is Antal Dorati's first recording (1937) of Rimsky Korsakov's timeless masterpiece "Scheherazade." This RCA Bluebird reissue features the playing of Beecham's London Philharmonic.
A couple of things that I would like to note. First, this is the quickest performance of the work that I know of: it clocks in at about 39 minutes. Most other performances are a good 3 to 5 minutes slower, including Dorati's numerous remakes. Second, the playing of the LPO is decidedly not first rate. I was surprised at the number, and prominence, of the careless attacks and less then crisp articulations from the winds. Strangely, many of the hallmarks of preparation that Dorati performances are known for are for the most part absent here. I wonder if rehearsal time was seriously limited?
Warts aside...this is an important document from a very fine conductor who produced many excellent recordings in a long and successful career. The Scheherazade here is a young man's take on the work and what it lacks in polish, it makes up for in zeal. I am happy to have discovered it in that box filled with three for a buck discs!
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