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CD Review

Zubin Mehta

Decca 4757470

A Seventieth Birthday Tribute

  • Leonard Bernstein: 'Candide' – Overture
  • Gioachino Rossini:
  • Overture La Scala di Seta *
  • Overture Guglielmo Tell *
  • Carl Maria von Weber:
  • 'Der Freischütz' – Overture *
  • Oberon – Overture *
  • Giuseppe Verdi:
  • 'La Forza del Destino' – Overture
  • 'La Traviata' – Preludes to Acts 1 and 3 *
  • Franz von Suppé: 'Poet and Peasant' – Overture
  • Johann Strauss: 'Die Fledermaus' – Overture
  • Maurice Ravel:
  • Bolero
  • La Valse
  • Daphnis et Chloé – Suite #2
  • Igor Stravinsky:
  • Circus Polka
  • 'Le Sacres du Printemps'
  • Aaron Copland: Fanfare for the Common Man
  • John T. Williams:
  • Star Wars – Suite
  • Close Encounters of the Third Kind – Suite
  • William Kraft: Concerto for Four Percussion Soloists & Orchestra
  • Charles Ives:
  • Decoration Day (No.2 from "Holidays in a Connecticut Country Town")
  • Variations on "America" (orchestrated William Schuman)
  • Gustav Holst: The Planets
  • Edward Elgar: Enigma Variations, Op. 36
  • Anton Bruckner: Symphony #8 in C minor (Nowak edition) **
  • Richard Wagner:
  • Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg – Prelude to Act 1 **
  • Rienzi – Overture **
  • Lohengrin – Prelude to Act 1 **
  • Gottfried von Einem: Philadelphia Symphony **
  • Richard Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra/Zubin Mehta
* Israel Philharmonic Orchestra/Zubin Mehta
** Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra/Zubin Mehta
Decca 4757470 6CDs
Find it at AmazonFind it at Amazon UKFind it at Amazon GermanyFind it at Amazon CanadaFind it at Amazon FranceFind it at Amazon JapanOrder Now from ArkivMusic.comFind it at CD Universe

Decca have the habit of issuing these magnificent Collector Editions box sets that are jam packed with music and usually resurrect recordings that have not been available since the days of the long playing record. This 70th birthday tribute to Zubin Mehta is no exception, although the interpretative quality of the recordings does occasionally leave something to be desired.

The overtures disc is probably the most enjoyable with some dashing interpretations of Rossini's 'William Tell' and Suppé's 'Poet and Peasant' amongst the most endearing. Ravel's 'Bolero' moves along smoothly enough but lacks the passion and intensity of Karajan's exotic version. 'Le Sacre du Printemps' is also rather bland whilst the works by Copland and Ives are no match for Bernstein's magnificent relays that surely take the cake.

Mehta is a committed Brucknerian but his Eighth is best forgotten in its truncated Novak version. The Wagner excerpts are rip roaring especially the 'Rienzi' Overture whilst the Holst and Elgar works are serviceable, but nothing else. All in all the box set is interesting but if you have the classic versions of most of these works then you are advised to look elsewhere.

Copyright © 2006, Gerald Fenech.

Trumpet

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