Even the most cynical of critics set aside their Beckmesser’s slate when Michael Tilson Thomas stepped on to the international stage in the early 1970s when Deutsche Grammophon released albums of Tchaikovsky, Debussy and American music. They were made near the start of his tenure as the Boston Symphony’s Assistant Conductor, and they demonstrated a preternatural assurance as well as a superb ear for complex rhythms and textures.
Tilson Thomas’s first period with DG was relatively short-lived – just a couple of years – but it also took in his scintillating pianism, accompanying BSO principals in Debussy sonatas, and a viscerally exact Stravinsky Rite of Spring, as well as, of course, the luminous account of Tchaikovsky’s ‘Winter Dreams’ symphony (still considered a benchmark recording of this work). All the repertoire played to his strengths, and demonstrated his considerable talents as an orchestral builder as well as an inspired interpreter of the widest imaginable range of music.
Once installed as Music Director of the London Symphony Orchestra, Tilson Thomas rekindled his DG relationship with two definitive albums of music by his mentor Leonard Bernstein. On The Town and Arias and Barcarolles both feature Frederica von Stade and Thomas Hampson, who were also close and long-standing associates of the composer. The LSO/DG partnership also featured typically insightful and sympathetic performances of concertos with pianist Jean-Marc Luisada and cellist Mischa Maisky. With Il sogno, Elvis Costello’s ballet score for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the conductor’s skill at shaping the most eclectic range of styles comes to the fore.
Finally, the set brings together for the first time the Argo recordings made by Tilson Thomas with the New World Symphony, which he founded in 1997 as a ‘training orchestra’ but which rapidly established itself as an international-calibre ensemble, capable of taking on the most challenging repertoire. With them, Tilson Thomas produced an exhilarating album of Latin American dances (Tangazo) a sensuous survey of Morton Feldman’s orchestral music, and finally a loving tribute to his teacher from college days, the composer Ingolf Dahl. If Dahl’s music is still too little known, the reissue of this album should bring it new friends.
Reissued with original jackets, the set includes a new appreciation of the conductor’s career by Peter Quantrill.
CD 1
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 1
Boston Symphony Orchestra / Michael Tilson Thomas
CD 2
GRIEG · SCHUMANN Piano Concertos
Jean-Marc Luisada; London Symphony Orchestra / Michael Tilson Thomas
CD 3
DEBUSSY Images; Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune
Boston Symphony Orchestra / Michael Tilson Thomas
CD 4
DEBUSSY Violin Sonata; Cello Sonata; Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp; Syrinx
Boston Symphony Chamber Players; Michael Tilson Thomas, piano
CD 5
IVES Three Places in New England
RUGGLES Sun-treader
Boston Symphony Orchestra / Michael Tilson Thomas
CD 6
STRAVINSKY Le Roi des étoiles; Le Sacre du printemps
Boston Symphony Orchestra / Michael Tilson Thomas
CD 7
PISTON Symphony No. 2
WILLIAM SCHUMAN Violin Concerto
Paul Zukofsky, violin; Boston Symphony Orchestra / Michael Tilson Thomas
CD 8
SHOSTAKOVICH Cello Concertos Nos. 1 & 2
Mischa Maisky, cello; London Symphony Orchestra / Michael Tilson Thomas
CD 9
BERNSTEIN On the Town
Frederica von Stade; Tyne Daly; Marie Mclaughlin; Thomas Hampson & supporting cast
London Symphony Orchestra / Michael Tilson Thomas
CD 10
BERNSTEIN Arias and Barcarolles; A Quiet Place; Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
Frederica von Stade; Thomas Hampson
London Symphony Orchestra / Michael Tilson Thomas
CD 11
ELVIS COSTELLO Il sogno
London Symphony Orchestra / Michael Tilson Thomas
CD 12
TANGAZO – MUSIC OF LATIN AMERICA
Chávez; Copland; Roldán; Revueltas; Caturla; Piazzolla; Ginastera
New World Symphony / Michael Tilson Thomas
CD 13
INGOLF DAHL Concerto for Alto Saxophone; Hymn; Music for Brass Instruments; The Tower of Saint Barbara
John Harle; New World Brass; Ertan Torgul; Gregory Miller; Tisha Murvihill
New World Symphony / Michael Tilson Thomas
CD 14
MORTON FELDMAN Piano and Orchestra; Cello and Orchestra; Coptic Light
Alan Feinberg; Robert Cohen
New World Symphony / Michael Tilson Thomas
“Thomas demonstrates the rare ability to recognize the boundary between sentiment and sentimentality, and here he completely realizes, with the aid of DGG’s vital and transparent engineering, the young composer’s exuberant tonal imagination.” High Fidelity, September 1971 (Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 1)
“Thomas once again shows why he’s the fastest rising star on the classical conducting scene. He is forceful without unnecessary sternness, tender while never losing control, and knowledgeable without imposing. The Boston Symphony plays with certainty and taste.” Billboard, April 1971 (Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 1)
“Tilson Thomas brings an essentially poetic and light hand … The orchestral performance and recorded sound can only be described as gorgeous.” Stereo Review, May 1971 (Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 1)
“An utterly delightful account, superbly played and recorded, with just the right combination of vitality and sentiment.” High Fidelity, July 1975 (Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 1)
“The program of American music turns out even better than expected: Walter Piston’s Second Symphony is an eloquent, exhilarating, skilfully constructed and orchestrated work.” High Fidelity, September 1971 (Piston, Schuman)
“Here’s still another fine effort in the recent rash of new recordings by the young conductor. In both works, he shows his versatility and range, putting his talents to work, in a generally over -all rich performance. The violinist here, Paul Zukofsky, is brilliant.” Billboard, April 1971 (Piston, Schuman)
“Michael Tilson Thomas has certainly demonstrated that his is one of the most remarkable conducting talents to be found anywhere among the young … Thomas conducts both of these impressive works with utter ease and conviction.” Stereo Review, June 1971 (Piston, Schuman)
“Thomas’ reading of Ives offers by far the most clearly detailed performance yet recorded… The high point of this record, indeed of this whole set of discs, is the shattering grandeur of Sun-treader.” High Fidelity, February 1971 (Ives/Ruggles)
“The first recorded performance to do full justice to Ruggles’ grim but nobly eloquent Sun-treader.” High Fidelity, April 1971 (Ives/Ruggles)
“One could hardly ask for a finer amalgam of vitality and refinement than that achieved by Mr. Thomas (who is the pianist) and his superbly accomplished colleagues. The recording is beautifully transparent and bright.” High Fidelity, February 1971 (Debussy: Sonatas)
“Thomas’ pianism is kaleidoscopically coloured in his collaboration with Joseph Silverstein and Jules Eskin in the Debussy Violin and Cello Sonata.” High Fidelity, April 1971 (Debussy: Sonatas)
“Tilson Thomas gives us one of the most perceptive and volatile readings I have ever heard.” Stereo Review, May 1972 (Stravinsky)
“One of Thomas’ greatest achievements here is in giving such variety of color to the dissonances in such a way that they lose some of their shock effect and become intrinsically expressive. … the final impression is of one continuous and inspired reading.” High Fidelity, November 1972 (Stravinsky)
“[Luisada] brings freshness to both these concertos, and Tilson Thomas is an affectionate partner.” Gramophone, December 1994 (Grieg, Schumann: Piano Concertos)
“The finest available studio recording of the Second Concerto … Few have tended the Largo’s opening bars as lovingly as Mischa Maisky … Tilson Thomas points and articulates with his usual skill.” Gramophone, April 1995 (Shostakovich: Cello Concertos)
“The casting for the occasion was masterly, from the LSO and Tilson Thomas, taking up the Bernstein mantle with tremendous panache, upwards.” Gramophone, November 1994 (Bernstein: On The Town)
“London’s symphonic musicians (and choral singers) can now apparently handle this stuff as well as Americans, and Thomas gets maximum energy and punch from first-rate performers.” Stereo Review, March 1994 (Bernstein: On The Town)
“Hampson and von Stade don’t miss a trick. Individually and as sparring partners, they come on a treat … The sound is echt-Bernstein.” Gramophone, November 1996 (Bernstein: Arias and Barcarolles)
“Arias and Barcarolles, heard in a very effective (and quite Bernsteinish) orchestration… is neatly sung by Frederica von Stade and Thomas Hampson. The music from A Quiet Place is much more successful as an instrumental suite than it ever was on the stage … Michael Tilson Thomas, a perpetual Wunderkind in the Bernstein tradition, is its perfect conductor.” Stereo Review, December 1996 (Bernstein: Arias and Barcarolles)
“A highly recommendable disc, brilliantly recorded with demonstration quality.” Gramophone, June 1993 (Tangazo)
“With these scrupulous, well-recorded performances, Tilson Thomas helps to ensure that Feldman is no longer underestimated.” Gramophone, August 1998 (Feldman)
“Under Thomas’s direction this band stirs up an excitement reminiscent of the old days at the New York Philharmonic with Leonard Bernstein.” Stereo Review, October 1993 (Tangazo)
“An irreproachably stylish survey… Dahl’s superbly transparent, clean-limbed scoring gives very real pleasure.” Gramophone, September 1995 (Dahl)