Paul Paray – L’Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France – 1960-1973 – Episode 2 – France Musique –
The second installment of the wonderful five-part series on the legendary Paul Paray and his relationship with the ORTF Orchestra (L’Orchestra Philharmonique de Radio France as it’s called now), during the years 1960-1973.
Here’s what’s on the player:
1. Ludwig van Beethoven
Leonore III
Concert of March 7, 19642. Beethoven
Symphonie 1
Concert of November 11, 19603. Robert Schumann
Symphonie 3
Concert of October 2, 19734. Richard Wagner
Tristan and Isolde – death of Isolde
Concert of March 7, 19645. Robert Schumann
3 ° and 4 ° movement of the 4th Symphony
(1964)
Paul Paray could and did conduct the entire orchestral repertoire well, but he specialised in the French symphonic literature. One of Paray’s most renowned recordings, made in October 1957, is that of Camille Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3 in C minor. The circumstances surrounding the recording were fortuitous. Paray had built the Detroit Symphony Orchestra into one of the world’s most distinguished. Marcel Dupré, a friend and fellow student from childhood, was organist for the session. Marcel Dupré, as a young student, had pulled the organ stops for the composer Camille Saint-Saëns in a performance of the Symphony No. 3 in Paris, and the organ of Ford Auditorium in Detroit was well suited to the work. As well as being among the most authoritative readings of the work, the original analogue recording on the Mercury label remains an audiophile reference in vinyl, and the analogue-to-digital transfer produced by the original recording director Wilma Cozart for CD is also available from Mercury.
Paul Paray married Yolande Falck in Cassis, France, on August 25, 1942. He was a National Patron of Delta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity. The government of France awarded him its highest honour, the Grand-Croix de la Légion d’honneur, in 1975.
Here is Part 2 from that five-part series, first aired July 7-11, 2014 from Radio France Musique.
