CHARLES DUTOIT - MONTREAL RECORDINGS
ALFVEN: Swedish Rhapsody No. 1. BARTÓK: Concerto for
Orchestra. Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta.BERLIOZ: Fantastic
Symphony.
Overtures: Roman Carnival. Le Corsaire. Les Francs-juges.
BIZET:
Music from
Carmen, Music from L'Arlesienne. Patrie Overture. Suite
from The Fair Maid of Perth. Symphony
in C. CHABRIER: Espana. Joyous March. CHAUSSON: Symphony
in B Flat. DEBUSSY: Children's
Corner Suite. Images. Jeux. La Boite a joujoux. La Mer. La
plus que lente.
Three
Nocturnes.Fragments
from
La Martyre de Saint Sébastien. Prelude to The
Afternoon of a Faun. Printemps. Three Nocturnes. D'INDY: Symphony
on a French Mountain Air (Jean-Yves Thibaudet). DUKAS: The
Sorcerer's Apprentice. DVORAK: Slavonic Rhapsody No. 3. FALLA:
El Amor Brujo (Huguette Tourangeau, mezzo-soprano). The
Three-Cornered Hat. FAURÉ: Pavane. Suite from Pelleas
and Mélisande. Requiem, Op.
48.
FRANCK:
Symphony
in
D minor.
GLAZUNOV: Oriental Rhapsody. GOUNOD: Faust Ballet
Music. HOLST: The Planets. IBERT: Bacchanale. Escales. Bostoniana.
Flute Concerto. Divertissement. Hommage à Mozart. Louisville-concert
Paris Symphonic Suite. DINDY: Symphony on a French Mountain
Air. LISZT:
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2. MENDELSSOHN: Music for A Midsummer
Night's Dream Overtures: Ruy Blas,The Fair Melussina. The
Hebrides.
Dream. . MUSSORGSKY: Prelude to
Khovantschina.
A Night
on Bald Mountain. Pictures at an Exhibition. OFFENBACH: Gaite
Parisienne. ORFF: Carmina Burana. PIAZZOLLA:
Double Concerto for Bandolin and Gujitar/ other works. RAVEL: Alborada
del gracioso. Boléro. La Valse. Daphnis and Chloe. Fanfare.
Le Tombeau de Couperin. Mother
Goose
Ballet. Menuet antique. Pavane for a Dead Princess. Piano Concerto
in G. Concerto for the Left Hand (Pascal Rogé). Rapsodie
espagnole. Une barque sur l'océan. Noble and Sentimental Waltzes.
RESPIGHI: The
Fountains of Rome. The Pines of Rome. Roman Festivals. RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Scherazade.
Capriccio espagnole. Russian Easter Overture. SAINT-SAËNS:
Symphony No. 3. Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah. SATIE:
Two Gymnopéadies. VON SUPPÉ: Seven overtures. STRAVINSKY: Fireworks.
The Firebird. The Rite of Spring. Song of the Nightingale. Four
Etudes. Petrushka.
Fantastic Scherzo. Symphony for Wind Instruments. TCHAIKOVSKY: The
Sleeping Beauty. The Nutcracker. The Swan Lake. THEODORAKIS:
Adagio for Flute and Strings. Carnival Ballet Suite.
THJOMAS: Raymond Overture.
DECCA 478 466 (35 disks)
BUY NOW FROM ARKIVMUSC
What a fabulous treasure this is! Audiophiles have long treasures
these recordings made from 1980 to 1996. The Montreal project was the
idea
of Ray Minshull, a quiet, gentle figure in the recording industry. He
had worked with John Culshall (who produced Decca's legendary Ring recording).
Beginning in 1967 Minshull was head of the label's classical division,
and head of Decca from 1981until he retired in 1994. He was the mastermind
behind the Dutoit/Montreal recordings. Decca had been looking for an
appropriate conductor to record French repertory and they found him
in Charles Dutoit,
who already had achieved remarkable acclaim in a wide variety of repertory.
He was appointed Music Director of the Montreal Symphony in 1977 and
resigned
in 2002
because
of a tiff
with several musicians. Jacques Lacombe was principal guest conductor
until 2006 when Kernt Nagano was named Music Director.
It was found that acoustics of Montreal's Église de Saint-Eustache
were perfect for recording, and when the first recordings were released
they were universally praised not only for their audio quality, but the
high level of performances.
The list
above surely is impressive, but it does seem a bit odd that Decca
selected
only
these
recordings.
So many are missing including the Berlioz Requiem, Liszt concertos
with Thibaudet, Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky concertos with Bolet,
orchestral
works of Kodaly, Shostakovich, and many other composers. It
does seem strange that more Tchaikovsky isn't here including 1812, the
violin concerto
(with
Kyung
Wha Chung) and the last three symphonies. However, this is a first-class
production, and a limited edition. And the price is ridiculously low
- super budget.
Get it while you can. And thanks, Decca! Perhaps there will be a second
volume in this series?
R.E.B. (April 2016)
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