Sibelius - Symphony No. 2 In D - Paul Paray - Detroit Symphony on 180g LP

It was a startling development in the world of high fidelity when Mercury released its first Living Presence recording in 1951. Listening to the recording of Moussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” with the Chicago Symphony under Rafael Kubelik, Howard Taubman, then chief music critic of the New York Times, wrote it was “like being in the living presence of the orchestra.” Following this spectacular first release, Mercury produced more than 350 classical LP records during the next 19 years.

Mercury’s innovative approach, master-minded by recording engineer C. Robert Fine, was based on the premise that, given a hall with excellent acoustical properties, a single ultra-sensitive microphone should be capable of capturing the sound of a symphony orchestra with unprecedented clarity, realistic balance and crisp definition. Though single-microphone recordings had been made before, the idea of recording large-scale symphonic works was bold and innovative. When the stereo era dawned in the mid-1950’s, Fine expanded and improved on this technique, opting for three microphones (left, center, right) to capture the full width, height and depth of the orchestral sound along with startling clarity and detail.

Part of the Mercury Living Presence vinyl series, Paul Paray and the Detroit Symphony's performance of Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. in D was recorded at Ford Auditorium in Detroit, MI on January 17, 1959. The recording was made on 3-track half-inch tape using three Telefunken 201 microphones. This LP was cut at Abbey Road Studios from Wilma Cozart Fine's 3-2 mixdown of first-generation 3-track 1/2" tape. Pressed on 180 gram vinyl with the original LP cover art and liner notes included.

1. Allegretto - Poco allegro - Tranquillo, ma poco a poco ravvivando il tempo al allegro 

2. Tempo andante, ma rubato - Andante sostenuto

3. Vivacissimo - Lento e suave - Largamente 

4. Finale (Allegro moderato)