Covering the first five years of their partnership on Mercury, this edition celebrates the legacy of French conductor, Paul Paray and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Recorded from 1953 to 1957, during the golden era of the orchestra, this original jacket collection includes both mono and early stereo recordings, remastered from the original sources by Thomas Fine. They are presented chronologically as when first issued.

The activities of the Detroit Symphony had been suspended for two years when Paul Paray took over in 1951, and within a season he had raised them to a standard of excellence drawing breathless praise from exacting New York critics such as Virgil Thomson and Harold C. Schonberg. The partnership also kindled a renaissance in Paray's career, and the ten-year period of his directorship was the most successful and fulfilling of his career.
The recently founded classical division of the Mercury label quickly spotted the unique qualities of the DSO/Paray partnership, and signed them up to an exclusive contract which produced several new albums a year and played to the strengths of Paray in both French and German music. Critics outside France were initially taken aback by his swift tempi in Beethoven and other composers, but Paray's approach now seems strikingly ahead of its time.

Covering the first five years of the DSO/Paray albums on Mercury, including both mono and early stereo recordings, Volume 1 includes three spine-tingling Wagner recordings; a fiery account of the Franck Symphony which immediately invited comparison with Toscanini; a Rimsky-Korsakov album which introduced thousands of listeners to the lovable 'Antar' Symphony; the first three volumes of a Schumann cycle which Paray esteemed as his proudest achievement on record; Saint-Saens 'Organ' symphony, which reunited Paray with his childhood friend Marcel Dupré at the new Aeolian-Skinner organ of the Ford Auditorium in Detroit; and Paray's own deeply felt Mass for the 500th Anniversary of the Death of Joan of Arc.

Recordings in this new set have been remastered from the original sources by Thomas Fine, son of the Mercury producer Wilma Cozart Fine and the label's chief engineer Robert Fine. They are presented in this original jacket collection as they were first issued, and accompanied by a richly illustrated booklet which contains essays on the sessions by Thomas Fine and on the DSO/Paray partnership by Peter Quantrill.

CD 1
MAURICE RAVEL (1822–1890)
Boléro, M.81

NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV (1844–1908)
Capriccio Espagnol, Op. 34

CD 2
RICHARD WAGNER (1813–1883)
Lohengrin: Preludes to Acts I & III
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: Prelude to Act I
Tannhäuser: Overture
Die Walküre: The Ride of the Valkyries (Act III)

CD 3
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827)
Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92

CD 4
CÉSAR FRANCK (1822–1890)
Symphony in D minor

CD 5
NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV (1844–1908)
Russian Easter Overture, Op. 36
Symphony No. 2, Op. 9 'Antar'

CD 6
MAURICE RAVEL (1822–1890)
La Valse

GABRIEL FAURÉ (1841–1904)
Pavane, Op. 50 (orchestral version)

CÉSAR FRANCK (1822–1890)
Psyché – poème symphonique (excerpts)

CD 7
PAUL DUKAS (1865–1935)
L'Apprenti sorcier

GABRIEL FAURÉ (1841–1904)
Pelléas et Mélisande – Incidental music, Op. 80

ALBERT ROUSSEL (1869–1937)
Le Festin de l'araignée, Op. 17

PAUL DUKAS (1865–1935)
The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Children's story with narration
Jerry Terheyden, narrator

CD 8
ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810–1856)
Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op. 120

FRANZ LISZT (1811–1886)
Les Préludes

CD 9
RICHARD WAGNER (1813–1883)
Der fliegende Holländer: Overture
Parsifal: Good Friday Music (Act III)
Tristan und Isolde: Prelude and Liebestod (Act III) (orchestral version)
Siegfried: Forest Murmurs (Act II)

CD 10
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827)
Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68 'Pastoral'

CD 11
EMMANUEL CHABRIER (1841–1894)
España – Rhapsody for Orchestra
MAURICE RAVEL (1875–1937)
Rapsodie espagnole, M.54

JACQUES IBERT (1890–1962)
Escales

CD 12
JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833–1897)
Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98

CD 13
GEORGES BIZET (1838–1875)
Carmen Suite
L'Arlésienne – Suite No. 1
L'Arlésienne – Suite No. 2

CD 14
MAURICE RAVEL (1875–1937)
Boléro, M.81
Ma Mère l'oye, M.60

EMMANUEL CHABRIER (1841–1894)
Bourreé fantasque (orch. Mottl)

ALBERT ROUSSEL (1869–1937)
Suite in F major, Op. 33

HENRY BARRAUD (1900–1997)
Offrande à une ombre

CD 15
CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862–1918)
La Mer, L.109
Ibéria (No. 2 of Images pour orchestre)

CD 16
CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS (1835–1921)
Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 78 'Organ Symphony'
Marcel Dupré, organ

CD 17
ERNEST CHAUSSON (1855–1899)
Symphony in B flat major, Op. 20

CD 18
SERGEI RACHMANINOFF (1873–1943)
Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27

CD 19
ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810–1856)
Symphony No. 2 in C major, Op. 61

CD 20
RICHARD WAGNER (1813–1883)
Götterdämmerung: Prologue – Dawn and Siegfried's Rhine Journey (Act I)
Siegfried Idyll
Parsifal: Prelude
Tristan und Isolde: Prelude (Act III)

CD 21
PAUL PARAY (1886–1979)
1–4 Mass for the 500th Anniversary of the Death of Joan of Arc
5 Paul Paray's post-session thanks to the performers
Frances Yeend, soprano; Frances Bible, mezzo-soprano
David Lloyd, tenor; Yi-Kwei-Sze, bass
Rackham Symphony Choir

CD 22
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756–1791)
Symphony No. 35 in D major, KV 385, 'Haffner'

JOSEPH HAYDN (1732–1809)
Symphony No. 96 in D major, Hob.I:96, 'The Miracle'

CD 23
ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810–1856)
Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 97 'Rhenish'