This new collection of 55 CDs from the acclaimed audiophile label 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 Bartok and Berg; Frederick Fennell, Rafael Kubelík, Paul Paray and Janos 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: Doratis 1953 mono recording of The Rite of Spring; and making its first-ever appearance on CD is John Coriglianos 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 one of the most enterprising, prestigious and sonically-spectacular labels in the history of classical recording. 1 DORATI Schoenberg Webern Berg 2 RORATI Respighi: The Birds Fountains & Pines of Rome 3 DORAT Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra Dance Suite 4 DORATI Respighi: Ancient Airs and Dances 5 DORATI Dvorák: Symphonies 7 & 8 6 DORATI Gershwin Copland Schuller Bloch 7 DORATI Satie Milhaud Auric Françaix 8 DORATI Tchaikovsky: Symphony 6 Pathétique 9 DORATI Bartók: The Wooden Prince 10 DORATI Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin 11 DORATI Tchaikovsky: Symphony 4 Borodin 12 DORATI Beethoven: Symphonies 5 & 6 13 DORATI Albéniz Falla Mussorgsky 14 KUBELIK Hindemith Schoenberg Kodály 15 DORATI Beethoven: Symphony 7 Overtures 16-17 DORATI Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake 18-20 FISTOULARI & DORATI Delibes: Sylvia Coppélia 21 MARCEL DUPRÉ Widor Franck 22 FENNELL Leroy Anderson 23 FENNELL Grainger Persichetti Khachaturian 24 FENNELL ROLLER Gould Giannini Hovhaness 25 FENNELL Grainger Coates 26 FENNELL Hands Across the Sea 27 FENNELL Coates Anderson 28 FENNELL The Spirit of 76 Ruffles & Flourishes 29 FENNELL Mozart R. Strauss Milhaud 30 FENNELL Holst Vaughan Williams Mennin 31 HANSON Hanson: Symphonies 1 & 2 32 HANSON Gould Barber 33 HANSON Ives Schumann Mennin 34 HANSON Hanson: Symphony 3 Elegy Lament 35 HANSON Barber Piston Griffes Kennan 36 HANSON McPhee Sessions Thomson 37 HANSON Moore Carpenter Rogers Phillips 38 HANSON Chadwick MacDowell Peter 39 HANSON Music for Quiet Listening Vol.1 40 HANSON Music for Quiet Listening Vol.2 41 KUBELIK Mozart: Symphony 38 Dvorák: Symphony 9 42 PARAY Ibert: Escales Ravel: Rapsodie Espagnole 43 PARAY French Opera Highlights: Hérold Auber Gounod 44 PARAY Saint-Saëns: Organ Symphony Paray: Mass 45 PARAY Chabrier Roussel 46 PARAY Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé Suite 2 Debussy: Nocturnes 47 PARAY Bizet: Carmen Suite L Arlésienne Suites 1 & 2 Thomas 48 PARAY Dances of Death: Liszt Weber Saint-Saëns Schmitt