VA - Mercury Living Presence - The Collector's Edition 2 [55CD Box Set] (2013)

This new collection of 55 CDs from the acclaimed audiophile label, Mercury Living Presence, offers a wealth of recordings from the 1950s and 1960s in an unrivaled range of repertory.

This ranges from solo Bach played by harpsichordist Rafael Puyana to American composer and conductor Howard Hanson in his own works as well as music by fellow Americans. Key artists include Antal Dorati in works ranging from Beethoven to Bartók and Berg as well as Frederick Fennell, Rafael Kubelík, Paul Paray, and János Starker.

An extensive 182-page booklet includes new essays on the history and development of the Mercury label by Thomas Fine (son of Wilma Cozart Fine, legendary producer of the MLP label) and Mike Gray. Numerous photographs are included and full recording information is documented. When we say full recording information, we mean it too. All the details collectors love to see is here: the microphones, the recording location, the original engineers, the subsequent remastering engineers, even the type of recording equipment.

Two CDs of true rarities are included: Dorati's 1953 mono recording of The Rite of Spring; and making its first-ever appearance on CD is John Corigliano's Piano Concerto. The CD also includes a rare 16-minute interview with Corigliano and pianist Hilde Somer.

Mercury Living Presence is special in many ways - an American company, from the heyday of classical recording in the U.S., that reproduced some of the most sonically realistic recordings at the dawn of the stereo era. Precious few stereo LPs were pressed when these recordings were issued, and they became some of the rarest, most collectible classical discs ever. Mercury Living Presence continues to enjoy a special reputation as on of the most enterprising, prestigious and sonically-spectacular labels in the history of classical recording.