“Decca Sound – The Analogue Years (Limited Edition)” – Various artists – 54 CDs and booklet – Decca 478 5437 Universal Music Group (11/19/13) [TrackList follows] *****
What a treat this 54-disc CD set is from Decca Records. In college many years ago I was an announcer at a commercial classical FM station, and I have many fond memories of playing some of these same recordings on vinyl discs.
I always knew that selecting something from the Decca or Mercury catalog would provide really terrific sound for my listeners. So it’s really a thrill that Decca has put together this wonderful box set. It covers 11 years from 1969 to 1980. Decca worked hard on its analog recordings, developing special microphone stands and carefully working out the positions of microphones for the best recordings. Decca started in mono, and some of those early mono recordings are included in this collection. When Decca moved to stereophonic sound it was a big event, and Decca proudly proclaimed its full frequency stereophonic sound methodology.
Of course good sound doesn’t mean much without the right artists, and Decca was lucky to have conductors like Ansermet, Haitink, Dutoit, Dorati and Monteux. The collection features some of the great classics, but it is not loaded down with obvious choices. Yes, there is Beethoven and Mahler, but also Bloch, Honegger, Kraft, Berwald and many others. Each disc is graced with the art that appeared on the original album release, and Decca has added ‘filler’ to use more of the CD storage capability than LPs have to offer even more music.
One can marvel at the Decca sound, and some of these discs sound as good as some modern SACDs. I didn’t listen to all 54 discs, but I eventually will. I totally enjoyed the Sibelius Symphony # 1, The Verdi Requiem conducted by Solti, and a few of the Scriabin selections.
Whatever Decca figured out about audio, they were certainly doing something right. There is not a bad or even average recording in the set. Equally interesting is the included large booklet, that goes into detail on Decca’s recording philosophy and the equipment they used. Also, the complete original liner notes for each album have been included.
The set is about $130.00 dollars online, working out to less than $2.50 per disc. It’s the best deal I’ve seen that combines musical and audio quality.
Box sets are quite the thing these days, which lets the labels get some use out of their back catalogs. It’s also great for listeners. Notable sets have come from Mercury, Phillips and DGG. The Decca set is an absolute treasure. My highest recommendation.
A track list in order of composer:
Bartók: Suite No. 1, Op. 3, BB. 39, Sz. 31 Antal Dorati Suite No. 2, Op. 4, BB. 40, Sz. 34 Antal Dorati Two Pictures, (Op.10) Sz. 46 Antal Dorati Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 ‘Choral’ Berwald: Grand Septet in B flat major Bloch, E: Schelomo Voice in the Wilderness Borodin: Piano Quintet in C minor Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15 Clifford Curzon (piano) London Symphony Orchestra, George Szell Britten: Symphony for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 68 Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26 Bruckner: Symphony No. 6 in A major Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Georg Solti Chopin: Études (12), Op. 10 Études (12), Op. 25 Copland: Appalachian Spring Lincoln Portrait Debussy: Préludes – Book 1 (12, complete) Pascal Roge (piano) Children’s Corner Pascal Roge (piano) Violin Sonata Dvorak: The Water Goblin, Op. 107 (B195) My Home Overture, Op. 62 The Noon Witch, Op. 108 (B196) Hussite Overture, Op. 67 The Golden Spinning Wheel, Op. 109 Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Op. 70 London Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Monteux Enescu: Romanian Rhapsody in A major, Op. 11 No. 1 Fauré: Fantaisie for piano & orchestra, Op. 111 Franck, C: Symphonic Variations for piano & orchestra, M46 Gershwin: An American in Paris, tone poem Glazunov: Stenka Razin Decca’s first stereo recordings Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet Gounod: Faust – Ballet Music Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, John Lanchbery Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16 Haydn: Symphony No. 94 in G Major ‘Surprise’ Symphony No. 100 in G major ‘Military’ Symphony No. 104 in D major ‘London’ Hérold: La Fille mal gardée (highlights) Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, John Lanchbery Hindemith: Violin Concerto Holst: The Planets, Op. 32 Honegger: Symphony No. 2 in D for strings and trumpet Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet Kodály: Háry János Suite Dances of Galanta The Peacock Variations on a Hungarian Folksong ‘The Peacock’ Kraft, William: Contextures Lecocq: Mam’zelle Angot – ballet Anatole Fistoulari Mahler: Symphony No. 2 in C minor ‘Resurrection’ Martin, F: Studies for String Orchestra Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet Concerto for 7 wind instruments, timpani, percussion & string orchestra Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet Massenet: Le Cid – Ballet music Mendelssohn: Piano Sextet Op. 110 Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56 ‘Scottish’ Symphony No. 4 in A major, Op. 90 ‘Italian’ Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64 Ruggiero Ricci (violin) London Symphony Orchestra, Pierino Gamba Montsalvatge: Concerto Breve for Piano & Orchestra Mozart: Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K550 Serenade No. 10 in B flat major, K361 ‘Gran Partita’ Serenade No. 12 in C minor, K388 Piano Concerto No. 27 in B flat major, K595 Clifford Curzon (piano) London Symphony Orchestra, George Szell Offenbach: Le Papillon Prokofiev: Symphony No. 2 in D minor, Op. 40 London Philharmonic Orchestra, Weller The Love for Three Oranges: Suite Op. 33a London Philharmonic Orchestra, Weller Symphony No. 5 in B flat major, Op. 100 Puccini: La Bohème Carlo Bergonzi (Rodolfo), Renata Tebaldi (Mimi), Ettore Bastianini (Marcello), Gianna D’ Angelo (Musetta), Renato Cesari (Schaunard), Cesare Siepi (Colline), Fernando Corena (Benoit/Alcindoro), Piero De Palma (Parpignol), Attilio D’ Orazi (Sergente dei doganieri), Giorgio Onesti (Un doganiere) Santa Cecilia Orchestra & Chorus, Tullio Serafin Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18 Julius Katchen (piano) London Symphony Orchestra, Georg Solti Ravel: Violin Sonata in G major Introduction & Allegro for Harp, Flute, Clarinet and String Quartet Boléro Ma Mère l’Oye Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet Rimsky Korsakov: Russian Easter Festival Overture, Op. 36 Capriccio espagnol, Op. 34 Symphony No. 2, Op. 9 ‘Antar’ Decca’s first stereo recordings Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 1 in D major Op. 17 Philadelphia Orchestra, Charles Dutoit Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 78 ‘Organ Symphony’ Schoenberg: Variations for Orchestra, Op. 31 Schubert: Incidental music to Rosamunde, D797 Symphony No. 9 in C major, D944 ‘The Great’ London Symphony Orchestra, Josef Krips Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D759 ‘Unfinished’ London Symphony Orchestra, Josef Krips Schumann: Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54 Scenes from Goethe’s Faust, WoO 3 Scriabin: Piano Concerto in F sharp minor, Op. 20 Prometheus (The Poem of Fire), Op. 60 Le Poème de l’extase, Op. 54 Shostakovich: Symphony No. 4 in C minor, Op. 43 London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bernard Haitink String Quartet No. 15 In E Flat Minor, Op. 144 String Quartet No. 8 in C minor, Op. 110 String Quartet No. 9 in E flat major, Op. 117 Sibelius: Pelléas and Mélisande Suite, Op. 46 Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Horst Stein The Tempest, Op. 109 Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Horst Stein Symphony No. 1 in E minor, Op. 39 Karelia Suite, Op. 11 Symphony No. 4 in A minor, Op. 63 Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43 London Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Monteux Strauss, J, II: Geschichten aus dem Wienerwald, Op. 325 Wiener Philharmoniker, Willi Boskovsky Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring Violin Concerto in D Surinach: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1973) Tchaikovsky: Manfred Symphony, Op. 58 Valse-scherzo in C major for violin & orchestra (or violin & piano), Op. 34 Swan Lake, Op. 20 (excerpts) Anatole Fistoulari 1812 Overture, Op. 49 London Symphony Orchestra, Kenneth Alwyn Capriccio italien, Op. 45 London Symphony Orchestra, Kenneth Alwyn Marche slave, Op. 31 London Symphony Orchestra, Kenneth Alwyn Verdi: Requiem Otello Mario Del Monaco (Otello), Renata Tebaldi (Desdemona), Aldo Protti (Iago), Nello Romanato (Cassio), Athos Cesarini (Rodrigo), Fernando Corena (Lodovico), Tom Krause (Montano), Ana Raquel Satra (Emilia) Wiener Philharmoniker, Wiener Staatsopernchor, Wiener Kinderchor, Herbert von Karajan Walton: Violin Concerto Wolf-Ferrari: Il segreto di Susanna—Mel Martin