Antal Doráti - The Mercury Masters (2025) [Hi-Res]

Driving intensity, rhythmic flair and demonstration-quality sound are brought to the fore in a new anthology of Antal Dorati's early recordings with the Philharmonia Hungarica on Mercury and Philips.

Founded in 1956, the Philharmonia Hungarica emerged from turbulent post-war times as a crack ensemble of emigre Hungarian musicians who had fled Communism for the West. While they gave concerts in Europe and the US, it was through these seven albums on Mercury and Philips that they became famous, and synonymous with the name of the conductor Antal Dorati.

Together, Dorati and the Philharmonia Hungarica would go on to make a celebrated cycle of Haydn symphonies for Decca in the early 1970s. But these early recordings already demonstrate what a potent artistic combination they were, as forerunners both to that monument of gramophone history, and to the modern-day Budapest Festival Orchestra. As reviewers at the time remarked, the strings play with a particular unanimity and attack which sounds uniquely 'Hungarian'.

A booklet essay by the music historian David Patmore tells the story of the Philharmonia Hungarica and their debut on record. All six Mercury albums were recorded at sessions in June 1958, held in the Vienna Konzerthaus: a spacious but analytical acoustic, well suited to the label's trademark high-impact sound.

Never previously collected together, this Mercury legacy is complemented by the two albums which the Philharmonia Hungarica and Dorati recorded for Philips.