![]() ![]() They chose only his best performances, ranging from early electric 78rpm recordings, some never issued at the time, transferred by Ward Marston and Mark Obert-Thorn, with the Philadelphia Orchestra, NBC Symphony, All-American Youth, New York City Symphony and Hollywood Bowl Symphony.Īll Stokowski's New York Philharmonic recordings from 1947-49 were released on Cala, taken from the original Columbia masters, Vaughan Williams's 6th Symphony among them (its first recording). But my Stokowski collection is far from a "completist's dream", and my knowledge is exceeded by that of Stokowski enthusiast Don Tait-who has been a member of this group.Ĭlick the link below and check out the Stokowski Society's 35 releases on the Cala label. I have this first recording from 1917, and an ample smattering of Stokowski's records all the way up to his last Lp of Mendelssohn's "Italian" Symphony in 1977. ![]() Starting with the Brahms Hungarian Dance N.5 in Oct 1917, his recordings on the Victor Red Seal label extended to 1940. I've only listened in 2-channel as my living room is torn apart.> I would only add the correction that though Stokowski began conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra in live concerts in 1912, he first conducted them in recordings in 1917. I'd love to encounter this as an encore sometime topping off an evening of Russian rousers! To top it all off the transcription of the Tchaikovsky song "Solitude" is wonderful. But this version is great: for once this is a Russian work, not some sort of cosmopolitan mish-mash. But the big winner for me was the Pictures! Wow! I'd always loved the piano version but been ambivalent about the Ravel orchestration. The Synthesis is everything I remembered, only better: great sound, no ridiculous spotlighting ala Stoky himself, and straight but cultured interpretation. I shouldn't have waited so long: this disc is a total success! So while I was interested in this disc for the Synthesis and for Serebrier whose conducting I like, I had continually found a reason to pass on it.īut at my local Tower Records I was told it was being deleted, so I decided to take the plunge. But a single listening to his Pictures many years ago was disappointing. But I remember hearing his Symphonic Synthesis from Boris over the radio in my teens and I enjoyed it immensely. I was never a big Stokowski fan: I disliked the gimickry. Review by Arthur (4 of 4 found this review helpful) If I wanted to convince a friend who doesn't like classical music to understand why I do, I'd play this disc for him. Stokowski's own recordings are not this good. I can think of no other medium, digital or analog, that would reproduce them as well. The bells and other novel instruments Stokowski arranged in this Russian music are all nicely recorded. #STOKOWSKI TRANSCRIPTIONS MUSSORGSKY BLURAY FREE#The strings, already sweetened by the free bowing and lush writing, are sweeter than you've ever heard in redbook. The sound is huge! The bass whacks hit you in the gut, just like they would in concert. I can't think of another SACD that so fulfills the medium's promise. The recording succeeds for this reason alone. It makes me wish we had him here in Chicago, as our low key Barenboim is near retirement. Instead of trying to impersonate Stokowski, he appears to conduct from his own bravura, so there is no self-conciousness. Serebrier appears to be cut of the same cloth. Stokowski is a hard conductor to emulate because his personality is so large. Recordings like this are what consumers need to hear if SACD is every going to succeed. ![]()
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