Michael Tilson Thomas’s complete recordings for Deutsche Grammophon (1970–2003) and Argo (1992–1995) encapsulate the conductor’s restlessly exploratory nature and masterful handling of the modern orchestra. The recordings in this collection demonstrate his superb ear for complex rhythms and textures, an orchestral builder, as well as an inspired interpreter of the widest imaginable range of music.

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.

‘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)