1812 Overture

Welcome to the forum!

The early stereo recording made by Antal Dorati with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra would be hard to beat. Now available on CD in 'The Originals' series, it has a fascinating talk about how the recording was made.

Yes indeed, this is the one to get.


PS: Watch your speakers, the cannon is for real.

PS: Watch your speakers, the cannon is for real.

Best use no toe-in then! Could be fatal!

Great reco', IMV.

ATB from George

quote:

Originally posted by GFFJ:
Best use no toe-in then! Could be fatal!

You should have told me earlier, now it's too late.

That made me laugh! I went to a Prom in the RAH once where they played it with a military [British Army] band augementing a huge BBC SO, and with real old bronze cannons, firing [fortunately] blanks. The place was full of blue smoke at the end and the din was deafening, but heck, it was worth it for a good end to a popular concert!

That recording I listened to once via old Quad valve amps and ESL 57s. No doubt the ESLs were as fine as any other sort of speaker for that!

No toe-in of course! I hope you recover quickly!

Happy Easter from George

I just "inherited" about 3 copies of it from a friend. At college in a commons that was one of the popular choices on the machine. It is rousing and lots O fun. I've not played these yet the rest of the collection is fascinating and well preserved.

I think that the Dorati version on Mercury is now available cheaply on the Classic FM Full Works label. HMV stores stock them. I don't know whether it has been remastered but the sound on the Mercury disc is pretty good, despite its age.
Ken