Suppe / Auber: Overtures:(1959- - 1962 recordings)

Mastered fromMercury Living Presence LPs. 'Mercury is all about the placement of the microphones. Paul Paray, the conductor who made the Detroit Symphony one of the finest 'French' orchestras on the planet' (Gramophone) "Suppé and Auber prove an ideal spirit-raiser. The Beautiful Galatea balances handsome playing with real swagger, and Poet & Peasant is intense and beautifully shaped. There are nine overtures, each parading similar virtues - brilliance, energy, a consistent rhythm and line, (and) felicitous phrasing … Berlioz (is) the best music, and here the virtuosity of Paray's orchestra really comes into its own. I do not ever remember having heard the climax of Le Carnaval Romain whipped up more excitingly" (Gramophone)