There is no end of
recordings of these seven popular Rhapsodies
for Orchestra, but among the very best have for many years been those of
conductor Antal Dorati and the London Symphony Orchestra.
I confess that for
the big two, Georges Enesco’s Roumanian
Rhapsody No. 1 and Franz Liszt’s Hungarian
Rhapsody No. 2, I have long held a preference for the old Stokowski
recordings available now on RCA Living Stereo and, even better, on a JVC XRCD.
But for the Enesco and all six of the Liszt Rhapsodies
on one disc, there is nothing finer than Dorati’s old Mercury edition.
Tempos and contrasts
sound well judged, although not as effortlessly integrated as Stokowski’s.
Still, there is plenty of color and excitement to Dorati’s performances. The
big two come off with plenty of élan and sparkle; the Fourth Hungarian Rhapsody is appropriately “rhapsodic” (the word
“rhapsody” as applied to music was apparently first used by Liszt for his
earliest piano versions of these pieces); the Fifth appears properly moderated; and the Sixth, “The Carnival in Pesth,” is as jubilant and festive as any
“Carnival” could be.
The sound is open
and vibrant and very wide spread across the front speakers. It’s available on
this SACD in its original three-channel format and in regular two-channel on a
hybrid disc that one can play on an SACD player or a conventional CD machine. Mercury
made the recordings of the Enesco and the Liszt Second and Third in 1960
and the other four Liszt Rhapsodies
in 1963, all with the LSO. The later recordings sound very marginally quieter
and smoother than the three earlier ones, but the differences are small,
indeed.
If you already own
this collection on the regular Mercury CD released in the early Nineties, there
is not a lot of difference in the sound of the new one in regular stereo. I
found the new SACD mastering very slightly brighter and a touch more revealing,
but it may have been my imagination, even comparing them side-by-side in
separate players. If you don’t already own the collection, though, the SACD
hybrid would be a first choice, even if it is a few dollars more than the
regular issue.
Finally, I should
add in closing that not only is there a fine recording of the Roumanian
Rhapsody by Stokowski available but also a disc by Willi Boskovsky on EMI that
duplicates the Liszt items on this Dorati one.
Boskovsky’s renditions of Liszt are almost as good as Dorati’s, and with
the prices of the two discs very low, it might behoove those interested in the
repertoire to own all of them.
JJP
