Zubin Mehta - Symphonies & Symphonic Poems

This 23 CD box set bears witness to Mehta’s work in the recording studio for Decca between May 1965 (Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony with the Wiener Philharmoniker) and July 1980 (Tchaikovsky’s Capriccio italien with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra). The bulk of the recordings date from the 1970s, and the period of white-hot inspiration when Mehta achieved and consolidated his international reputation. There are textbook performances here: the orchestral conflicts found Mahler’s Second Symphony, for example, or the visionary build-up of internal tension in the final movement of the same composer’s Third; the highly individual manner in which Mehta plumbs the depths of Beethoven’s Seventh, and the cycle of Schubert symphonies; the macabre echo of the Trauermarsch in Mahler’s Fifth, and the rational and yet sensuous quality of Mehta’s responsiveness to Strauss.

Price: $104.98