Interesting things you wrote about Dorati and his Bruckner 8 today. The first Brahms 2 I got to know was a Mercury Minneapolis Dorati recording. I was bowled over by how similar the first movement's main theme is to the Brahms Cradle Song. The concept of auto-plagiarism was a hard one for me to grasp. I write fiction, and I keep finding the same themes, recurring again and again in my work - Berlioz's notion of idee fixe, no doubt.
My next encounter with Dorati was with the Haydn Symphonies, issued in Australia by the World Record Club. Bit by bit Dorati began to sink in my estimation because every time I had an opportunity to compare a Dorati with another version, I found Dorati coming way second. Lesley Jones, Karl Ristenpart in the early symphonies, Kurt Sanderling especially in his great Paris set, 82 to 87. Then a friend played the First Tchaikovsky Orchestral Suite - what a ripper of a work that is - and my respect for him rose again. It is interesting how recording companies made or broke the reputation of conductors in the 'glory' days of recording. Men like Mister Serendipity Solti definitely in the right place at the right moment in history and a very second rate talent basks in limelight.
Ah, the fickle beast called fame.
Dorati, it seems, was overlooked too often.
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