Dorati and the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra’s performance of these wonderful Copland works appears on the site for only the second time ever, here with solid Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER throughout this original Plum Label Mercury stereo pressing of SR 90172
It’s also remarkably quiet at the high end of Mint Minus Minus, a grade that even our most well-cared-for vintage classical titles have trouble playing at
This copy is everything that a good Mercury should be: dynamic, open, immediate, exciting, and of course, with Dorati and the MSO, beautifully performed
The “of course” should be taken with a grain of salt — plenty of Dorati Mercury records do not sound good, and if anybody should know, we should, we’ve played them by the score
But we love what he and the MSO have done with these Copland pieces – we tried lots of other recordings, and nothing could touch Mercury for exciting, lifelike and energetic sound
1959 was a phenomenal year for audiophile quality recordings – as of 2025 we’ve auditioned hundreds and reviewed more than one hundred and seventy titles, and there are undoubtedly a great many more that we’ve yet to discover.
We think there are a large number that belong in any audiophile’s record collection worthy of the name.
