In over 35 years of listening to the classics, I can honestly say that one of the greatest influences on me has been Antal Dorati, in particular early Dorati from the mid 40's through late 50's. What strikes me most about early Dorati is the excitement, the sense of occasion that he brought to, and inspired, in his performances from Dallas and Minneapolis.
The three performances here feature three orchestras tackling works arranged by Dorati and recorded during the late 1940's by RCA Victor:
- The ballet "Graduation Ball" based on music of Johann Strauss the Younger performed by the Dallas Sympony Orchestra
- The suite from the ballet "Helen of Troy" by Offenbach performed by the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
- The suite from "Der Rosenkavalier" of Richard Strauss performed by the Robin Hood Dell Orchestra (pseudonym for the Philadelphia Orchestra which was under contract to Columbia)
In all of the works, Dorati elicits sharp playing and sensitive phrasing from the musicians. In addition, Dorati keeps the pulse steady and accurate and this is no easy feat as these suites are scenes that require flawless transitions in order to move along convincingly, rather in a transparent way I would say. It is so easy for suites like these to become fragments strewn together but Dorati does not let that happen. I think one reason why these arrangements are all but forgotten is that few conductors could pull this off as convincingly as Dorati. These are great examples of the art and talent of Antal Dorati: composer, conductor, leader.
These records were in so-so shape. Overall, the transfers came out better than I had imagined however, there are a couple of spots where added noise removal would jeopardize overall sound. I don't think this will prove too much of a problem as the historical reason for listening to these recordings outweigh any technical limitations.
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