HOLLYWOOD QT plays Beethoven's Late Quartets

"This set became something of a legend in its day and had it not been for the fact that it was made in the last days of mono LP, it would have remained longer in circulation... admiration is unqualified and one simply relishes the splendour and purity of this quartet's playing."
- Gramophone, 1982

Beethoven's late Quartets, Nos. 12-16 and the Grosse Fuge which originally completed No. 13, are among the high peaks of human artistic endeavour and achievement. Many string quartets have risen to the musical and technical challenge, few have succeeded as well as the Hollywood Quartet did in the spring and early summer of 1957.

The recordings quality was perhaps the only shortcoming of this set, something this Pristine 32-bit XR remaster aims to redress. Bringing out the full rich tone of the quartets instruments and lifting a veil from the 55 year old sound, these recordings are indeed a revelation.

PARAY conducts Rimsky-Korsakov and Ravel

"Because of Paul Paray's tremendous vitality and kinetic energy, his very presence at an ordinary social gathering seems to electrify the atmosphere. Such is the sheer personal impact of this remarkable artist who in the fall of 1952 took over the musical destinies of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra which Mercury is so proud to present on its Olympian Series recordings..."
- Mercury Sleevenotes, 1953

Paul Paray's tenure at the Detroit Symphony coincided most happily with a Mercury Records which was just about to become one of the most highly rated classical labels in the US.

This release goes back to day one and the orchestra's first recordings with its new conductor in a superb selection of music from Rimsky-Korsakov, coupled with a fabulously dynamic and thrilling Boléro!