Driving intensity, rhythmic flair and demonstration-quality sound are brought to the fore in a new anthology of Antal Dortis early recordings with the Philharmonia Hungarica on Mercury and Philips.

Founded in 1956, the Philharmonia Hungarica emerged from turbulent post-war times as a crack ensemble of migr Hungarian musicians who had fled Communism for the West. While they gave concerts in Europe and the US, it was through these seven albums on Mercury and Philips that they became famous, and synonymous with the name of the conductor Antal Dorti.

Together, Dorti and the Philharmonia Hungarica would go on to make a celebrated cycle of Haydn symphonies for Decca in the early 1970s. But these early recordings already demonstrate what a potent artistic combination they were, as forerunners both to that monument of gramophone history, and to the modern-day Budapest Festival Orchestra. As reviewers at the time remarked, the strings play with a particular unanimity and attack which sounds uniquely Hungarian.

A booklet essay by the music historian David Patmore tells the story of the Philharmonia Hungarica and their debut on record. All six Mercury albums were recorded at sessions in June 1958, held in the Vienna Konzerthaus: a spacious but analytical acoustic, well suited to the labels trademark high-impact sound.

The repertoire played to the strengths of both label and musicians: mostly Hungarian music from the last half century, vividly coloured and coursing with rhythmic energy. There is an early taste of the ensembles feeling for Haydn, in the Surprise and Drum Roll Symphonies. Dortis established reputation as a masterful conductor of ballet brings a sweeping sense of line to a collection of Viennese waltzes. The ace in the pack of the Mercury/Philharmonia Hungarica albums was Respighis suites of Ancient Airs and Dances, which soon became a demonstration disc for audiophiles worldwide.

Never previously collected together, this Mercury legacy is complemented by the two albums which the Philharmonia Hungarica and Dorti recorded for Philips. The ensembles first-ever recording, made in October 1957, appeared on the Fontana imprint, coupling Bartks Divertimento with Leo Weiners Hungarian Dances. From 1974, the second Philips album returns to Bartk, with gripping interpretations of the Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta and Dance Suite.