Under the leadership of Paul Paray, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra quickly cultivated a brilliance of attack, precision of ensemble and moulded sonority. Their signature sound was ideally suited to the dynamic profile of Mercury Living Presence recordings, especially in stereo. This edition of their recordings, remastered from the original sources by Thomas Fine and Wilma Cozart Fine, chronicles the last five years of this partnership (1958–62). This original jackets collection is presented chronologically as when first issued.

For a decade in the 50s and early 60s, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra won acclaim as one of the great orchestras of the world under its music director Paul Paray. Rebuilding the orchestra almost from scratch with the help of Toscanini's former concertmaster Mischa Mischakoff, Paray quickly cultivated a brilliance of attack, a precision of ensemble and moulded sonority in the image of the French orchestras he had led before the Second World War, now boosted by a level of technical finesse which was rivalled only by George Szell in Cleveland and Fritz Reiner in Pittsburgh and Chicago.

The DSO/Paray sound was ideally suited to the dynamic profile of Mercury Living Presence recordings, especially in stereo, and the label captured them in repertoire which initially focused on Paray's strengths in French and German music, with albums of Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Chausson and Ravel which stand the test of time. However, Paray was known as a universalist, at home in any repertoire except modernism. The stereo recordings in this set, made between 1958 and his final season as music director ending in 1962, including thrilling accounts of Dvorak's 'New World' and Sibelius's Second symphonies, as well as an explosive album of Suppé overtures.

Paray had been friends and colleagues with several of the French composers featured here such as Ravel, Florent Schmitt and Jacques Ibert. Their music naturally responds to the lightness of touch, subtly restrained rubato and unsentimental phrasing which Paray brought to everything he conducted. The substantial bonus is a first-ever CD release for 'The Naked Carmen', a rock opera devised and arranged by John Corigliano and David Hess from Bizet's score, as played by the Detroit musicians and Paray with the addition of modern elements such as guitars and a rhythm section. The set concludes with Paray's sole recording for Deutsche Grammophon, a coupling of the Ravel piano concertos made in Paris with Monique Haas.

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
FELIX MENDELSSOHN (1809–1847)
A Midsummer Night's Dream – Incidental Music, Op. 61, MWV M1
Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 107, MWV N15 'Reformation'

CD 2
FLORENT SCHMITT (1870–1958)
La Tragédie de Salomé, Op. 50

RICHARD STRAUSS (1864–1949)
Dance of the Seven Veils (Salome)

ÉDOUARD LALO (1823–1892)
Namouna: Suite No. 1

CD 3
OUVERTURES FRANÇAISES
HECTOR BERLIOZ (1803–1869)
Overture: Le Carnaval romain, Op. 9

ÉDOUARD LALO (1823–1892)
Overture: Le Roi d'Ys

GEORGES BIZET (1838–1875)
Overture: La Patrie

HECTOR BERLIOZ (1803–1869)
Overture: Le Corsaire, Op. 21

CD 4
ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810–1856)
Symphony No. 1 in B flat major, Op. 38 'Spring'
Overture: Manfred, Op. 115

CD 5
BOUQUET DE PARAY
GIOACHINO ROSSINI (1792–1868)
Overture: William Tell

CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS (1835–1921)
Danse macabre, Op. 4

CARL MARIA VON WEBER (1786–1826)
Arranged by Hector Berlioz (1803–1869)
Aufforderung zum Tanze, Op. 65
Invitation to the Dance

FRANZ LISZT (1811–1886)
Mephisto Waltz No. 1, S. 110

CD 6
JEAN SIBELIUS (1865–1957)
Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43

CD 7
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827)
Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36
Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21

CD 8
VIVE LA MARCHE !
HECTOR BERLIOZ (1803–1869)
Marche hongroise (La Damnation de Faust, Op. 24)

CHARLES GOUNOD (1818–1893)
Marche funèbre d'une marionette

CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS (1835–1921)
Marche héroïque in E flat major, Op. 34

ROUGET DE LISLE (1760–1836)
La Marseillaise

EMMANUEL CHABRIER (1841–1894)
Joyeuse marche

CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS (1835–1921)
Marche militaire française (Suite algérienne in C major, Op. 60)

HECTOR BERLIOZ (1803–1869)
Marche troyenne (Les Troyens)

GIACOMO MEYERBEER (1791–1864)
Coronation March (Le Prophète)

CD 9
EMMANUEL CHABRIER (1841–1894)

España – Rhapsody for Orchestra
Suite Pastorale
Fête polonaise (Le Roi malgré lui)
Overture: Gwendoline
Danse slave (Le Roi malgré lui)

CD 10
CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1822–1890)
Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, L.86

MAURICE RAVEL (1875–1937)
Valses nobles et sentimentales, M.61
Le Tombeau de Couperin, M.68

CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1822–1890)
Petite Suite (orch. Büsser)

CD 11
JACQUES OFFENBACH (1819–1880)
Overture: La belle Hélène
Overture: Orphée aux enfers
Les Contes d'Hoffmann – Suite

DANIEL AUBER (1782–1871)
Overture: Le Cheval de bronze
Overture: Fra Diavolo
Overture: Masaniello

Detroit Symphony Orchestra
PAUL PARAY

CD 12
RICHARD WAGNER (1813–1883)
Overture: Der fliegende Holländer
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: Suite
Wotan's Farewell and Magic Fire Music (Die Walküre)
Overture: Rienzi

CD 13
FRENCH OVERTURES
FERDINAND HÉROLD (1791–1833)
Overture: Zampa

DANIEL-FRANÇOIS AUBER (1782–1871)
Overture: Les Diamants de la couronne

AMBROISE THOMAS (1811–1896)
Overture: Mignon
Overture: Raymond

FRANÇOIS-ADRIEN BOIELDIEU (1775–1834)
Overture: La Dame blanche

ADOLPHE ADAM (1803–1856)
Overture: Si j'étais roi

CD 14
HECTOR BERLIOZ (1803–1869)
Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14

CD 15
ANTONÍN DVORÁK (1841–1904)
Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 9'From the New World'

CD 16
FRANZ VON SUPPÉ (1819–1895)
Overture: Die schöne Galathée
Overture: Pique Dame
Overture: Leichte Kavallerie
Overture: Dichter und Bauer
Overture: Ein Morgen, ein Mittag und ein Abend in Wien
Overture: Boccaccio, oder Der Prinz von Palermo

CD 17
CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1822–1890)
Nocturnes, L.91

MAURICE RAVEL (1822–1890)
Daphnis et Chloé – Suite No. 2, M.57b
Wayne State University Women's Glee Club Choir · Malcolm Johns, director (Debussy)

CD 18
CÉSAR FRANCK (1822–1890)
Symphony in D minor, FWV 48

CD 19
MAURICE RAVEL (1875–1937)
Rapsodie espagnole, M.54
Alborada del gracioso, M.43
Pavane pour une infante défunte, M.19
La Valse, M.72

JACQUES IBERT (1890–1962)
Escales

CD 20
BALLET – HIGHLIGHTS FROM FRENCH OPERA
CHARLES GOUNOD (1818–1893)
Faust – ballet music

CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS (1835–1921)
Bacchanale (Samson et Dalila)

GEORGES BIZET (1838–1875)
Danse bohème (Carmen Suite No. 2)

HECTOR BERLIOZ (1803–1869)
Chasse royale et orage – Pantomime (Les Troyens)

JULES MASSENET (1842–1912)
Overture: Phèdre

AMBROISE THOMAS (1822–1896)
Gavotte (Mignon)

DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
PAUL PARAY

CD 21
The Naked Carmen
Electric Rock Opera
Written, arranged and produced by John Corigliano & David A. Hess
Adapted from Bizet's Carmen
John Corigliano, synthesizer
Anita Darian, kazoo
John Atkins, piano
David Hess, Melba Moore, George Turner, Robert White, William Walker, vocals
Mary Bruce And Her Starbuds
Pig Iron
Detroit Symphony Orchestra / Paul Paray

CD 22
MAURICE RAVEL (1875–1937)
Piano Concerto in G major, M.83
Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in D major, M.82
Monique Haas, piano
Orchestre National de France / Paul Paray