ARTISTS
Heinz Holliger, oboe
Detroit Symphony Orchestra CD 1; CD 4; CD 6 tracks 1, 5 & 6
Philharmonia Hungarica CD 2 tracks 1-6; CD 3 tracks 1-10
Concertgebouw Orchestra CD 2 tracks 7-13
Basler Sinfonie-Orchester CD 3 tracks 11-13
Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux CD 5 tracks 1-10
National Symphony Orchestra, Washington DC CD 5 tracks 11-16; CD 6 track 4
London Philharmonic Orchestra CD 6 tracks 2 & 3
Antal Dorati

TRACKLISTING
COPLAND: Fanfare for the Common Man · Four Dance Episodes from 'Rodeo' · El salón Mexico · Dance Symphony · Appalachian Spring
BARTÓK: Dance Suite · 2 Portraits · Concerto for Orchestra
WEINER: Hungarian Folk Dances, Op.18
KODÁLY: Háry János - Suite
DORATI: Trittico
STRAVINKSY: Scherzo fantastique · Apollon musagète (1947 version) · Le Sacre du printemps
BIZET: Carmen Suite No.1 · Carmen Suite No.2
DEBUSSY: Nocturnes · Images pour orchestre - No.2 Ibéria
DVORÁK: Slavonic Rhapsody
J STRAUSS II: An der schönen blauen Donau, Op.314 · Wein, Weib und Gesang, Op.333
WAGNER: Wotan's Farewell and Magic Fire Music (Die Walküre)
TCHAIKOVSKY: Capriccio italien
R. STRAUSS: Don Juan

In this year of the centenary of his birth, Decca pays tribute to the magnificent recordings of Antal Dorati with this 6 CD commemorative release.

9 April 2006 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Antal Dorati. Born in Budapest, Dorati studied at the Liszt Academy from the age of fourteen and his teachers included such legendary figures as Bartók, Kodály, and Leó Weiner, all represented in this collection.

Dorati made his conducting debut at the Budapest Royal Opera in 1924 and remained there for four years. As early as 1937 he made his American debut with the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington DC, an orchestra he would work with for many years and which is also included here. Having worked regularly in America during the late 1930s and 1940s Dorati became an American citizen in 1947. In 1946 Dorati appeared with the London Symphony Orchestra, his British concert debut, and he enjoyed several important long-term associations with English orchestras in later years: in 1963 he became principal conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and 1975 saw him appointed as senior conductor with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Other important associations during his long and distinguished career include his work with the Philharmonia Hungarica, an orchestra that was founded in 1957 and made up of Hungarian refugees. It was with this orchestra that he undertook one of the most ambitious recording projects in the history of the gramophone when he recorded all 104 of Haydn's symphonies for Decca during the early 1970s. Haydn was just one composer closely linked with Dorati and in addition to the symphonies he recorded eight complete operas for Philips. Dorati was a musician of wide sympathies and recorded a wide range of repertory for both Decca and Philips and in particular his recordings for the Mercury label achieved particular distinction. A number of these have been transferred to SACD in recent months. Dorati died in 1988.

This 6CD set showcases Dorati's talents in a range of repertory that focuses largely on twentieth-century composers with which he had a particular association and it also includes one of his own compositions.

Many of these recordings are making their first international appearance on CD.