Stokowski's best recordings

[aesthete8]

Any recommendations?

By the way, weren't his tempi on the slow side?

[William Sommerwerck]

If you can find the DVD set of "Fantasia", there is an unused recording of
"Swan of Tuonela" that is to die for.

Stokowski had the apparently unique ability to get an orchestra to play so
slowly that it appeared to have come to a dead stop, yet without the loss of
strong forward motion.

[Jerry]

On Mar 12, 11:41 pm, aesthete8 <art...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Any recommendations?
>
> By the way, weren't his tempi on the slow side?

In such an extensive discography, it's difficult to
settle on a short list. But, I'll put forward
my personal favorites though they might not be
to everyone's liking:

Gliere - Symphony No. 3 (Ilya Mourometz) - Abridged (EMI)
Menotti - Sebastian - Suite (RCA)
Cowell - Persian Set (Citadel)
Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake - Acts 2 & 3 (RCA via Cala)
Wagner - Parsifal (orchestral synthesis) (Everest)

and two miniatures

Ippolitov-Ivanov - In the Manger (Cala)
Two Lithurgical Melodies (Cala)


I know I'm running against current orthodoxy
here, but I find the 'abridged' Ilya Mourometz
a more satisfying listening experience than
the unabridged opus - possibly because Stoki's
Houston recording is still the one imprinted
in my memory.

[mandryka]

On Tuesday, 13 March 2012 03:41:54 UTC, aesthete8 wrote:
> Any recommendations?
>
> By the way, weren't his tempi on the slow side?

Debussy -- Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune. One of the later, longer versions. The first one he made he speeded up to get on two sides of a 78.

The transcription of La cathédrale engloutie, with the bells

Tanhauser Venusberg prelude

Haydn Symphony 53

Brahms 1 with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra

Brahms 4 with the All American Youth Orchestra

Tschaikovsky with the NBC Symphony

Scriabin Poem of Ecstasy with the Houston Symphony

Shostakovich 5 with the New York Stadium Symphony

Also the Vanguard CD of Vivaldi,Bach, Corelli/ There's also a Gran Partita which some people really love (not me.)

[Doug McDonald]

The 1950 mono Debussy Three Nocturnes. A critic of the
time did not like this, especially Nuages, calling them something
like "lurid" or "sensual". That's what I like about them.

This is still available on the Cala label along
with the Enescu Roumanian Rhapsodies (1950), the Firebird (1953),
all in mono and Ride of the Valkyries (1941) in stereo (!).
This is available as a CD or MP3s. The Wagner has left-right balance off
by 3.2 dB and the MP3 is vastly overloaded, but the Amazon preview is OK.

The LP is the oldest one I still own, and it might just
be the first LP I ever bought, and certainly was the
first Debussy I ever heard.

Doug McDonald

[Kimba W Lion]

aesthete8 <art...@gmail.com> wrote:

>Any recommendations?
>
>By the way, weren't his tempi on the slow side?

>By the way, weren't his tempi on the fast side?

Yes.

But if you're worried about metronome markings, you may as well not bother
with Stokowski.

I would recommend anything he recorded, but his recordings go back all the way
to 1912, so sound quality on the older ones may be an issue for you.

By all means get his Tchaikovsky 4th Symphony on Vanguard.
And crank the volume up.

[music...@gmail.com]

On Monday, March 12, 2012 5:41:54 PM UTC-10, aesthete8 wrote:
> Any recommendations?

According to Haggin:

- And two of the best Stokowski-Philadelphia Orchestra performances were the Dances from Prince Igor on M-499, and the Debussy Fetes on 2034 of M-630.

https://www.google.com/#bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&cad=b&fp=fdad11a6475d35fa&hl=en&q=%22And+two+of+the+best+Stokowski-Philadelphia+Orchestra+performances+were+the+Dances+from+Prince+Igor+on+M-499,+and+the+Debussy+Fites+on+2034+of+M-630.%22&tbm=bks

[Willem Orange]

Andante records put out a gorgeous set with all of the famous Stokowski Wagner recordings he made in the 1920s-30. Beautifully remastered and annotated - worth hunting up.

[hiker_rs]

On Monday, March 12, 2012 10:41:54 PM UTC-5, aesthete8 wrote:
> Any recommendations?
>
>
>
> By the way, weren't his tempi on the slow side?

Ives Symphony No. 4.

-Rich

[Kerrison]

> By the way, weren't his tempi on the slow side?

Check him out rehearsing Leonore No. 3 in his mid-80s and let us know if you think his tempi were slow ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmcr79tzwwM

[Dennman6]

On Tuesday, March 13, 2012 4:04:50 PM UTC-4, Kimba W Lion wrote:
> aesthete8 <art...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> >Any recommendations?
>

> I would recommend anything he recorded, but his recordings go back all the way
>
> to 1912, so sound quality on the older ones may be an issue for you.

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. Starting with the Brahms Hungarian Dance N.5 in Oct 1917, his recordings on the Victor Red Seal label extended to 1940. 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. 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.

[Kerrison]

>
> 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. Starting with the Brahms Hungarian Dance N.5 in Oct 1917, his recordings on the Victor Red Seal label extended to 1940. 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. 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.

Click the link below and check out the Stokowski Society's 35 releases on the Cala label. 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.

All 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). There are two CDs of opera highlights: 'Boris Godunov' with Rossi-Lemeni, as well as 'Samson and Delilah' with Rise Stevens and Jan Peerce, both from the 1950s. Other licensed material includes his 'Phase-4-Stereo' Czech Philharmonic performance of Elgar's Enigma Variations, coupled with a wonderful LSO Brahms 1st Symphony; and the aforementioned Mendelssohn 'Italian' coupled with an equally wonderful Brahms 2nd, licensed from Sony ...

http://www.calarecords.com/acatalog/The_Art_of_Stokowski.html

Of course, lots of other labels have comoe out with Stokowski CDs, notably Guild, who have just released a 'live' Philadelphia Brahms / Wagner coupling, so check them out too ...

http://www.guildmusic.com/shop/wbc.php?sid=31367790eca7&tpl=suche.html&q=Stokowski&submit2=GO

[markm...@gmail.com]

On Monday, March 12, 2012 10:41:54 PM UTC-5, aesthete8 wrote:
> Any recommendations?

There are so many recommendable Stokowski recordings I hardly know where to begin.
- His transcription, titled "Liebesnacht," of music from Acts II and III of Tristan und Isolde. There are two recordings with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the first from 1935, and the second, in stereo, from 1960. Both are very good, but the emotional temperature is a little higher in the 1935 recordings.
- A live recording from the BBC of Brahms Symphony #4, made when he was 92 at Royal Albert Hall with the New Philharmonia Orchestra in 1974. This turned out to be Stokowski's last public performance (though he made studio recordings for another three years). The studio recording made for RCA at about the same time has been criticized for being perfunctory, but not the live performance - its intensity is remarkable, with especially commanding horn playing.
- Already recommended but still worth mentioning, his recording on Cala of music from Acts II and III of Swan Lake with the NBC Symphony. My only regret about this recording is that the violin soloist is not credited.
- A CD of his Bach transcriptions on RCA from the early 1950s, in monaural sound, with "his" symphony orchestra. The grave majesty of the performance of the Bach-Stokowski "Komm, susser Tod" is worth the price of the disc.
- His 1939 Shostakovich 5th with the Philadelphia Orchestra, with a deeply moving slow movement.
- A CD issued in the mid-90s on EMI Classics including cuts from two different LPs, one called The Orchestra" and the other called "Highlights of a Distinguished Career." This is a wonderful sampler of 13 different works recorded in studio in 1957 with orchestras of excellent New York musicians. The repertoire is broad and varied, ranging from his orchestration of Bach's D minor Toccata and Fugue to Debussy's "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun" to Barber's Adagio for Strings and music by Harold Farberman and Vincent Persichetti. All of these are stereo recordings made originally for Capitol Records.

I'll send more recommendations later.

Mark

[GMS]

IMO, almost anything by Stoki is enjoyable. Especially beautiful is the BBC telecast of Purcell's "When I am Laid in Earth" from 1954. His mastery of string tone is unequaled anywhere.

[wanwan]

On Saturday, August 17, 2013 11:46:06 AM UTC-10, GMS wrote:
> IMO, almost anything by Stoki is enjoyable. Especially beautiful is the BBC telecast of Purcell's "When I am Laid in Earth" from 1954. His mastery of string tone is unequaled anywhere.

Considering he wasn't a string player, I wonder from who Stokie got his ideas on free bowing/string sound? Some years ago i met a violinist from a major american orchestra who told me that many concertmasters these days really don't know how to bow for orchestras.

-------------
Eric

[Mikhailo...@here.org]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUAmi6WIfuU

[Dennman6]

On Saturday, August 17, 2013 3:26:54 PM UTC-4, Kerrison wrote:
>
>
>
> Click the link below and check out the Stokowski Society's 35 releases on the Cala label. 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.
>
>
>
> All 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). There are two CDs of opera highlights: 'Boris Godunov' with Rossi-Lemeni, as well as 'Samson and Delilah' with Rise Stevens and Jan Peerce, both from the 1950s. Other licensed material includes his 'Phase-4-Stereo' Czech Philharmonic performance of Elgar's Enigma Variations, coupled with a wonderful LSO Brahms 1st Symphony; and the aforementioned Mendelssohn 'Italian' coupled with an equally wonderful Brahms 2nd, licensed from Sony ...
>
>
>
> http://www.calarecords.com/acatalog/The_Art_of_Stokowski.html

I had no idea these Cala CDs were still available. I had thought most were long out of print. I bought about 5 of them at Tower Records in California when I lived there, but I've been gone from that state since 2000. I do notice that the latest copyright year on the website is 2006, so I am wondering if these Cala Cds are akin to the out of print Marston CDs. That is are they now actually issued as CD-Rs, like the Archiv series? I have no qualms about the sound quality of well mastered issues on CD-R, but I do know they won't last ten years. I've had too many "78s2CD" CD-Rs become partially or totally unreadable in the eight or so years since I bought numerous vintage Gilbert & Suliivan HMV sets issued by them. Similarly the CD-Rs produced by "Tinfoil" of vintage Edison cylinders(some of early classical instrumentalists) have become unreadable towards the end of the CD-Rs. Same thing with several CD-R sets of First Generation Radio Archives issues, so goodbye to my Escape! and The Big Show sets. In those cases one can actually see under the stick-on label that the CD-Rs were branded Office Max or some other cheapie line. I realize this is a burning speed issue, probably using the cheapest discs available as nearly all of my TDK, Memorex, Maxell, Fuji, Sony CD-Rs recorded at 1X-4X burn speed still play without issue. They were recorded on a 2000 Pioneer and a 2005 Sony CD audio recorder. And so it's important to know if the Cala series still exists only as a CD-R issue. Oddly with all of the CD recorders and computer drives in the house I never attempted duping these CD-Rs, in the belief that so doing would somehow be economically offensive to these independent "cottage industry" producers. Now if I receive a CD-R it's "rip & burn, baby!".

[Bozo]

>On Monday, March 12, 2012 10:41:54 PM UTC-5, aesthete8 wrote:

The PO / YNS hommage coming in Sept : http://tinyurl.com/kbnp7zx

[Matthew B. Tepper]

Kerrison <kerrison1...@yahoo.co.uk> appears to have caused the
following letters to be typed in
news:391eb968-8875-4798...@googlegroups.com:

> Of course, lots of other labels have comoe out with Stokowski CDs,
> notably Guild, who have just released a 'live' Philadelphia Brahms /
> Wagner coupling, so check them out too ...
>
> http://www.guildmusic.com/shop/wbc.php?sid=31367790eca7&tpl=suche.html&q=
> Stokowski&submit2=GO

I'm quite curious about that 1961 "Gurre-Lieder," which I'm sure would be
interesting to compare with the two 1932 performances. I see that the tenor
in 1961 was James McCracken, whom I heard in the same role under Ozawa in San
Francisco a dozen years later (and recorded it with Ozawa in Boston in 1979).

--
Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks!!
Read about "Proty" here: http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/proty.html
To write to me, do for my address what Androcles did for the lion
Opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of my employers.

[Steve de Mena]

On 8/18/13 8:02 AM, Dennman6 wrote:

> I had no idea these Cala CDs were still available. I had thought most were long out of print. I bought about 5 of them at Tower Records in California when I lived there, but I've been gone from that state since 2000. I do notice that the latest copyright year on the website is 2006, so I am wondering if these Cala Cds are akin to the out of print Marston CDs. That is are they now actually issued as CD-Rs, like the Archiv series? I have no qualms about the sound quality of well mastered issues on CD-R, but I do know they won't last ten years. I've had too many "78s2CD" CD-Rs become partially or totally unreadable in the eight or so years since I bought numerous vintage Gilbert & Suliivan HMV sets issued by them. Similarly the CD-Rs produced by "Tinfoil" of vintage Edison cylinders(some of early classical instrumentalists) have become unreadable towards the end of the CD-Rs. Same thing with several CD-R sets of First Generation Radio Archives issues, so goodbye to my Escape! and The B
ig Show sets. In those cases one can actually see under the stick-on label that the CD-Rs were branded Office Max or some other cheapie line. I realize this is a burning speed issue, probably using the cheapest discs available as nearly all of my TDK, Memorex, Maxell, Fuji, Sony CD-Rs recorded at 1X-4X burn speed still play without issue. They were recorded on a 2000 Pioneer and a 2005 Sony CD audio recorder. And so it's important to know if the Cala series still exists only as a CD-R issue. Oddly with all of the CD recorders and computer drives in the house I never attempted duping these CD-Rs, in the belief that so doing would somehow be economically offensive to these independent "cottage industry" producers. Now if I receive a CD-R it's "rip & burn, baby!".
>

Why not just rip it and burn it only if the original craps out? I rip
all CDs and CD-Rs I obtain.

Steve

[Dennman6]

I have definitely come to the same methodology as you have, Steven. I had supported these smaller CD issues and happily listened to their good efforts. But as a policy of not losing what I've paid for I will dupe everything I get that isn't a pressed CD. And I've only recently become aware of the infamous "bronzing syndrome" of poorly pressed Pearl CDs, which leave usually half the disc unplayable. This past year I've done quite a bit of "Amazoning" to finally obtain CD sets I've long wanted. I've discovered that the c.1993 Pearl issues of John McCormack CDs and "Music of the New York Stage"(various volumes) have whatever kind of "CD rot" that prevents playing of the tracks, starting from the outer edge of the CD(the PDO-made discs). I'd read about this before, but was shocked when it dawned on me that I was now in possession of these offending discs. From the late 1990s I had purchased Pearl CDs of their issues featuring Richard Crooks, Stokowski Bach transcriptions, etc. without any problems. "Bronzing" was solved by that time. Frankly, I note that the earlier Pearls don't have enough noise reduction as compared to later Pearl issues and just about any other historic reissue made since c.1999 using judiciously applied CEDAR. On the plus side the light champagne gold to deep coppery color of the "bronzing syndrome" is very appealing to the eye.

Dennis Forkel

[Kerrison]

>
> > All 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). There are two CDs of opera highlights: 'Boris Godunov' with Rossi-Lemeni, as well as 'Samson and Delilah' with Rise Stevens and Jan Peerce, both from the 1950s. Other licensed material includes his 'Phase-4-Stereo' Czech Philharmonic performance of Elgar's Enigma Variations, coupled with a wonderful LSO Brahms 1st Symphony; and the aforementioned Mendelssohn 'Italian' coupled with an equally wonderful Brahms 2nd, licensed from Sony ...
>
> >
>
> > http://www.calarecords.com/acatalog/The_Art_of_Stokowski.html
>
>
>
> I had no idea these Cala CDs were still available. I had thought most were long out of print. I bought about 5 of them at Tower Records in California when I lived there, but I've been gone from that state since 2000. I do notice that the latest copyright year on the website is 2006, so I am wondering if these Cala Cds are akin to the out of print Marston CDs. That is are they now actually issued as CD-Rs, like the Archiv series? I have no qualms about the sound quality of well mastered issues on CD-R, but I do know they won't last ten years. I've had too many "78s2CD" CD-Rs become partially or totally unreadable in the eight or so years since I bought numerous vintage Gilbert & Suliivan HMV sets issued by them. Similarly the CD-Rs produced by "Tinfoil" of vintage Edison cylinders(some of early classical instrumentalists) have become unreadable towards the end of the CD-Rs. Same thing with several CD-R sets of First Generation Radio Archives issues, so goodbye to my Escape! and The Big Show sets. In those cases one can actually see under the stick-on label that the CD-Rs were branded Office Max or some other cheapie line. I realize this is a burning speed issue, probably using the cheapest discs available as nearly all of my TDK, Memorex, Maxell, Fuji, Sony CD-Rs recorded at 1X-4X burn speed still play without issue. They were recorded on a 2000 Pioneer and a 2005 Sony CD audio recorder. And so it's important to know if the Cala series still exists only as a CD-R issue. Oddly with all of the CD recorders and computer drives in the house I never attempted duping these CD-Rs, in the belief that so doing would somehow be economically offensive to these independent "cottage industry" producers. Now if I receive a CD-R it's "rip & burn, baby!".

------

I've been in contact with Cala's London office and you need have no fears! Practically all the surviving stocks in their warehouse are from the original factory-pressed runs (ordered in batches of 1000 CDs at a time). There are two or three titles where it would have been uneconomical to order yet another large quantity, when sales had run their course and only a few copies were wanted, so for those they used the Nimbus "Short Run" Service also used by other companies. Nimbus's website gives full details, as per this link ...

http://www.wyastone.co.uk/nimbus-disc-print

One of the Cala titles mentioned as being available in a Nimbus pressing was Stokowski's 1964 LSO 'Phase-4 Stereo' "Scheherazade" which featured 20 minutes of him rehearsing. The Cala engineers produced a "New Digital Re-Mastering at 24 bit / 96kHz" from the masters which reviewers said was sonically far superior to Decca's own release. However, if anyone's nervous about acquiring a CD-R of this Cala release then Decca's is the one to go for!

Curiously, one of Cala's best sellers was Stokowski's NBC SO "Planets" from a 1943 broadcast. You'd think that in the face of all the stereo competition this wouldn't have done so well, but evidently it did, probably because it's such a shattering performance and far superior to his Capitol stereo remake. It's on Amazon too, as a download, so that's another way of acquiring these still-available Cala CDs ...

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Stokowski%20Planets%20NBC%20Symphony%20Cala

[Ed Presson]

"hiker_rs" wrote in message
news:56782f89-3f88-4965...@googlegroups.com...

On Monday, March 12, 2012 10:41:54 PM UTC-5, aesthete8 wrote:
> Any recommendations?
>
>
>
> By the way, weren't his tempi on the slow side?

I have been absent for several days, so it's possible that most, if not all,
of these performances have already
been recommended. Here of some my favorites:

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 1 (with the Symphony of the Air)
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 6 (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)
Bizet: Symphony in C (with the National Philharmonic) no slow tempos here
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4 (with the National Philharmonic)
Debussy: La Mer (London Symphony Orchestra) this one IS slow, but it's
hypnotic
Scriabin: Poem of Ecstasy (great performances on London, Everest, and BBC)
Messiaen: L'Ascension
Sibelius: Symphony No. 1
de Falla: El Amor Brujo
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade (I prefer his recording with the London
Symphony Orchestra)
Enescu: Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 (RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra)


I have collected only a few of his historical recordings, but I think his
recording of excerpts from Mussorgsky's
Boris (with vocalists) is really special. His readings of Vaughn Williams
Fourth Symphony and Antheil's Fourth Symphony are very special.

Slow tempos? I've read that in his early years with the Philadelphia
Orchestra, this was true. However, during his last decades, he often
stressed propulsive forward motion in addition to the "Stokowski sound."

Hope this helps,

Ed Presson

[William Sommerwerck]

"Ed Presson" wrote in message news:kuub54$6bh$1...@dont-email.me...

> Slow tempos? I've read that in his early years with the Philadelphia
> Orchestra, this was true. However, during his last decades, he often
> stressed propulsive forward motion in addition to the "Stokowski sound."

It depends. Stokowski could bring music to near dead-stop, without it falling
apart. I've never heard any other conductor come close.

[Kerrison]

>
> > Slow tempos? I've read that in his early years with the Philadelphia
>
> > Orchestra, this was true. However, during his last decades, he often
>
> > stressed propulsive forward motion in addition to the "Stokowski sound."
>
>
>
> It depends. Stokowski could bring music to near dead-stop, without it falling
>
> apart. I've never heard any other conductor come close.

If you watch him rehearsing the 'Paganini' Rhapsody with 100-miles-an-hour tempos you wonder where this notion of him being slow comes from. As WS states above, it all depended on how he felt at the time. But in this rehearsal, even at the age of 85, he shows he was still totally on the ball. In fact, his vitality is really quite amazing ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzuOVqk_HxA

[Matthew B. Tepper]

Kerrison <kerrison1...@yahoo.co.uk> appears to have caused the
following letters to be typed in

news:fd3f5277-8498-47a1...@googlegroups.com:

> Curiously, one of Cala's best sellers was Stokowski's NBC SO "Planets" from
> a 1943 broadcast. You'd think that in the face of all the stereo
> competition this wouldn't have done so well, but evidently it did, probably
> because it's such a shattering performance and far superior to his Capitol
> stereo remake. It's on Amazon too, as a download, so that's another way of
> acquiring these still-available Cala CDs ...
>
> http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywo
> rds=Stokowski%20Planets%20NBC%20Symphony%20Cala

I can't speak for anyone else, but I bought it for the opportunity to hear
"The Planets" played by Toscanini's orchestra, as also with the Mahler 1st
and Bruckner 4th that Walter did with them, and the Mahler 4th that Walter
did with Koussevitzky's orchestra. Not to mention all of Toscanini's with
Stokowski's Philadelphians.

[Matthew B. Tepper]

Kerrison <kerrison1...@yahoo.co.uk> appears to have caused the
following letters to be typed in

news:09b0db6b-ed1f-44ff...@googlegroups.com:

> If you watch him rehearsing the 'Paganini' Rhapsody with 100-miles-an-hour
> tempos you wonder where this notion of him being slow comes from. As WS
> states above, it all depended on how he felt at the time. But in this
> rehearsal, even at the age of 85, he shows he was still totally on the
> ball. In fact, his vitality is really quite amazing...
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzuOVqk_HxA

Wow! And just think, at the time of this rehearsal, it had been 31 years
since the work had premiered (with the composer, and this conductor). Now,
45 years have passed since that rehearsal!

[William Sommerwerck]

"Kerrison" wrote in message
news:09b0db6b-ed1f-44ff...@googlegroups.com...

The belief that Stokowski was a "slow" conductor might stem from the fact that
some of his best performances had slow tempos -- or sections with slow tempos.

Off hand, I can't think of any conductor with a wider range of tempos. (I'm
talking about over all the works he performed, not variations among
performances of a particular work.)

[Ed Presson]

"William Sommerwerck" wrote in message news:kuub9c$6t9$1...@dont-email.me...

I concur; he never lost that ability.

Ed Presson

[richard...@gmail.com]

On Sunday, August 18, 2013 2:08:03 AM UTC-4, Mikhailo...@here.org wrote:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUAmi6WIfuU

Wonderful. Thanks for the link.

[richard...@gmail.com]

On Tuesday, August 20, 2013 1:52:37 AM UTC-4, Kerrison wrote:


>
> If you watch him rehearsing the 'Paganini' Rhapsody with 100-miles-an-hour tempos you wonder where this notion of him being slow comes from. As WS states above, it all depended on how he felt at the time. But in this rehearsal, even at the age of 85, he shows he was still totally on the ball. In fact, his vitality is really quite amazing ...

> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzuOVqk_HxA

Thank you for this miraculous link. I am no afficionado of rehearsals but this shows an 85 year old who is more on the ball and has better hearing than most much younger people. What an ear for detail in the orchestral execution, and for an inner ear turning the notes on paper into a musical experience!

[operafan]

On Monday, August 19, 2013 8:27:37 AM UTC-4, Kerrison wrote:
> One of the Cala titles mentioned as being available in a Nimbus pressing was Stokowski's 1964 LSO 'Phase-4 Stereo' "Scheherazade" which featured 20 minutes of him rehearsing. The Cala engineers produced a "New Digital Re-Mastering at 24 bit / 96kHz" from the masters which reviewers said was sonically far superior to Decca's own release. However, if anyone's nervous about acquiring a CD-R of this Cala release then Decca's is the one to go for!

I have the Cala CD. The sound is very distorted in loud passages. No way I can tell if this was in the original recording due to overmodulation (my London LP is too worn to be used as a comparison!) or is the result of a deteriorated master. It's by far my favorite of the Stokowski recordings of this piece.

[Kerrison]

>
> I have the Cala CD. The sound is very distorted in loud passages. No way I can tell if this was in the original recording due to overmodulation (my London LP is too worn to be used as a comparison!) or is the result of a deteriorated master. It's by far my favorite of the Stokowski recordings of this piece.

Apropos Stokowski in stereo (or binaural, if you prefer) there are two 1941 All-American Youth Orchestra tracks, both issued by Cala, that are on You Tube. Recorded on two turntables, each with its own microphone, the second being a safety back-up to the first, this was how Columbia made all its recordings at the time, so if they still exist you could hear Stravinsky's New York Philharmonic recordings in 'stereo' too.

Mendelssohn Scherzo ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YVEgoHrty8

Wagner Valkyries

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y314wj0WEy0

Don't forget the respective RCA/BMG and Sony/Columbia boxed sets of all his stereo recordings either, each with its own share of gems ...

http://www.amazon.com/Leopold-Stokowski-Stereo-Collection-1954-1975/dp/B006ZJJ70O/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377091042&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=Stokowski+RCA+BMG+Stereo+Recordings

http://www.amazon.com/Leopold-Stokowski-Columbia-Stereo-Recordings/dp/B0083D9MXM/ref=pd_sim_sbs_m_2

[Willem Orange]

Note that the Columbia Stereo Set is an Original Jacket collection in disguise.

[Dave Cook]

On 2013-08-21, operafan <peter....@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Monday, August 19, 2013 8:27:37 AM UTC-4, Kerrison wrote:

>> One of the Cala titles mentioned as being available in a Nimbus
>> pressing was Stokowski's 1964 LSO 'Phase-4 Stereo' "Scheherazade"
>> which featured 20 minutes of him rehearsing. The Cala engineers
>> produced a "New Digital Re-Mastering at 24 bit / 96kHz" from the
>> masters which reviewers said was sonically far superior to Decca's own

> I have the Cala CD. The sound is very distorted in loud passages.

The original Decca release (I think I had it on a "Jubilee" issue) was
much worse.

Dave Cook

[rkhalona]

On Saturday, August 17, 2013 11:08:03 PM UTC-7, Mikhailo...@here.org wrote:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUAmi6WIfuU

Did Stoki ever perform Sibelius' "Four Legends?"
I know no recording exists. I think this music was up his alley, but especially "The Swan of Tuonela" was an ideal vehicle for the opulent string sound he favored.

RK

[William Sommerwerck]

"rkhalona" wrote in message
news:53520023-c9df-4a97...@googlegroups.com...

Disney recorded "Swan" for possible use in "Fantasia". It was included on the
deluxe DVD (which I foolishly sold), but not the Blu-ray. It is arguably one
of the greatest recordings of any piece of music. He takes his time, but the
music never falls apart of seems incoherent.

[music...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, August 22, 2013 3:23:43 AM UTC-10, William Sommerwerck wrote:
> "rkhalona" wrote in message

>
> ..
>
> On Saturday, August 17, 2013 11:08:03 PM UTC-7, Mikhailo...@here.org wrote:
>
> > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUAmi6WIfuU
>
>
>
> > Did Stoki ever perform Sibelius' "Four Legends?"
>
> > I know no recording exists. I think this music was up his alley, but
>
> > especially
>
> > "The Swan of Tuonela" was an ideal vehicle for the opulent string sound he
>
> > favored.
>
>
>
> Disney recorded "Swan" for possible use in "Fantasia". It was included on the
>
> deluxe DVD (which I foolishly sold), but not the Blu-ray. It is arguably one
>
> of the greatest recordings of any piece of music. He takes his time, but the
>
> music never falls apart of seems incoherent.

Concerning FANTASIA, there is a "Clair de Lune" animated segment conducted by Stokowski on Youtube which was dropped from the movie.

[wade]

which DVD in that three pack was it on?

[William Sommerwerck]

"wade" wrote in message
news:6488a3ac-c63e-4b12...@googlegroups.com...

> which DVD in that three pack was it on?

The third, probably.

[Gerard]

"William Sommerwerck" wrote in message news:kv53d5$898$1...@dont-email.me...

"rkhalona" wrote in message
news:53520023-c9df-4a97...@googlegroups.com...
On Saturday, August 17, 2013 11:08:03 PM UTC-7, Mikhailo...@here.org wrote:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUAmi6WIfuU

> Did Stoki ever perform Sibelius' "Four Legends?"
> I know no recording exists. I think this music was up his alley, but
> especially
> "The Swan of Tuonela" was an ideal vehicle for the opulent string sound he
> favored.

Disney recorded "Swan" for possible use in "Fantasia". It was included on
the
deluxe DVD (which I foolishly sold), but not the Blu-ray. It is arguably one
of the greatest recordings of any piece of music.

=================

One of the 200,000 greatest recordings?

[Kerrison]

The deleted "Clair de lune" segment from 'Fantasia' is on You Tube as per this link ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLSzlBaU3jM

However, rather than waste the cartoon images that had been drawn for 'Fantasia', Disney re-used them for a song called "Blue Bayou " in 'Make Mine Music' ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCg04JTYbLw

[Roland van Gaalen]

On Tuesday, March 13, 2012 5:41:54 AM UTC+2, aesthete8 wrote:
> Any recommendations?

Mahler 2 with BBC Orchestra

[markm...@gmail.com]

I'm not sure whether you're asking if Stokowski ever recorded "Swan of Tuonela." If that's not what your asking, I apologize, but there is a wonderful "Swan of Tuonela" (in stereo) on an EMI Classics CD, with English Hornist Robert Bloom and an anonymous symphony orchestra, presumably recorded in the late 1950s. There is also a 1947 recording of "Swan" with another anonymous orchestra and English Hornist Mitchell Miller (later more famous as "Mitch" Miller for his sing-along TV shows).

Mark

[gggg...@gmail.com]

On Monday, March 12, 2012 at 8:26:55 PM UTC-10, mandryka wrote:

> On Tuesday, 13 March 2012 03:41:54 UTC, aesthete8 wrote:
> > Any recommendations?
> >
> > By the way, weren't his tempi on the slow side?
>

> Debussy -- Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune. One of the later, longer versions. The first one he made he speeded up to get on two sides of a 78...

When he made the studio recording of Holst's THE PLANETS in the fifties, I have often wondered if he speeded up Neptune to get it to fit on the 2nd side of the lp.

It's one of the fastest Neptune's on records while his live Neptune recorded during the war has to be the slowest.

[JohnA]

A Stokowski performance was first released on Columbia M 34548, an SQ-encoded LP, which featured Sibelius' First Symphony and The Swan of Tuonela

[Ed Presson]

wrote in message
news:bcadb161-50d0-4f28...@googlegroups.com...

On Monday, March 12, 2012 at 8:26:55 PM UTC-10, mandryka wrote:
> On Tuesday, 13 March 2012 03:41:54 UTC, aesthete8 wrote:
> > Any recommendations?
> >
> > By the way, weren't his tempi on the slow side?
>

Stokowski went through a period of slow tempi in the 30's and 40's I've
read. Most of his stereo recordings (from the mid-50's on) show an interest
in more bracing tempi and a sense of vigorous forward motion (with a few
exceptions). The RCA, Decca, and Columbia boxes of his stereo recordings
show lots of vitality in interpretations.

[Kerrison]

On Friday, December 8, 2017 at 1:28:46 AM UTC, JohnA wrote:

> > I'm not sure whether you're asking if Stokowski ever recorded "Swan of Tuonela." If that's not what your asking, I apologize, but there is a wonderful "Swan of Tuonela" (in stereo) on an EMI Classics CD, with English Hornist Robert Bloom and an anonymous symphony orchestra, presumably recorded in the late 1950s. There is also a 1947 recording of "Swan" with another anonymous orchestra and English Hornist Mitchell Miller (later more famous as "Mitch" Miller for his sing-along TV shows).
> >
> > Mark
>
>
> A Stokowski performance was first released on Columbia M 34548, an SQ-encoded LP, which featured Sibelius' First Symphony and The Swan of Tuonela

Stokowski made the first recording of "The Swan of Tuonela" in 1929 and it was reissued a couple of years ago on the 'Guild' label, along with other Sibelius works including the Violin Concerto with Heifetz and the Philadelphians from 1934.

The 'Guild' booklet notes state that Stokowski phoned Marcel Tabuteau the day before the recording of "The Swan," evidently a last minute decision, to tell his principal oboist that he would be playing the cor anglais solo. As Tabuteau didn't even have the instrument, he had to borrow one pretty damn quick and learn the part overnight.

The results can be heard in this very rare 33.1/3rd 'Program Transcription' LP. It was taken from a copy of the 78 and is very scratchy but the Philadelphia strings sound amazing, as indeed is the performance as a whole ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iv5RX-eo9Y

Here's the finale of the Sibelius Violin Concerto with Heifetz and Stokowski. This was the only occasion in their respective careers when they ever worked together ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33cTQSktKGQ

[gggg gggg]

On Monday, March 12, 2012 at 8:41:54 PM UTC-7, aesthete8 wrote:
> Any recommendations?
>
> By the way, weren't his tempi on the slow side?

https://groups.google.com/g/rec.music.opera/c/Axd0el-bpz0

[Kerrison]

This video, which illustrates all eight of Stokowski's commercial recordings of the 'Firebird' Suite, from 1924 to 1967, doesn't particularly suggest slower tempi than is usual in this piece ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wlabwf3xyLc

[Kerrison]

If it was seeing "Fantasia" as a youngster that introduced you to classical music, you may like to be reminded of the opening item by clicking this link ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJfOF_LZaP0&t=52s

[gggg gggg]

On Monday, March 12, 2012 at 5:41:54 PM UTC-10, aesthete8 wrote:
> Any recommendations?
>
> By the way, weren't his tempi on the slow side?

(Recent Y. upload):

Preview: Stokowski's Demented Tchaikovsky Fourth and His 10 Best Recordings