![]() ![]() The disc is completed with two rehearsal's with George Szell conducting the same orchestra. There is no mention of dates, but a quick check in Oliver Daniel's book confirms that these rehearsals took place when Stokowski was guest conducting in 1952. This is followed by the Russian Easter Overture (sans bass) and then movements 2-4 of Brahms' Second Symphony. Disc two has Leopold Stokowski rehearsing the San Francisco Symphony in excerpts from Boris Godunov, in Rimsky-Korsakov's version. The is Victor de Sabata rehearsing four pieces with, I assume, the same orchestra, but the notes are not completely clear on this matter. Disc one has Serge Koussevitzky rehearsing Liszt's Faust Symphony with his Boston Symphony Orchestra. It is a two-disc set titled "Great Conductors in Rehearsal". The next CD is of some interest, but there are certain reservations. While I know that the latest technology allows producers to literally change the sound from the original release, and while Robert La Porta has good intentions, the discs should reflect what Stokowski wanted. That same problem plagued the sound on that disc, but an earlier release (on their Seraphim series) is much better (look for that one). I mentioned a similar debacle in another article reviewing all of EMI's latest releases when EMI issued its FDS recording of Holst's Planets, recorded with the L.A. This is not the first time this problem has crept up. What we have here is not the Stokowski Sound!! I hope we can manage to see that this problem is taken care of when EMI issues its next batch of Stokowski recordings (I was told it would be in the Spring of '96). 680) and EMI should have gone to the tapes Stokowski approved. As Oliver Daniel pointed out in his tome Stokowski: A Counterpoint of View Stokowski was always "meticulous in his attention to detail" (p. He informs me that the problem is that EMI went back to the original tapes, not the tapes which were adjusted and approved by Stokowski. What happened? I wrote to Ed Johnson about this release. The sound has a fullness, richness and firm bass line, all of which are not on this disc. I went to our collection and got out the earlier CD release with this in it (7777-47521-2 with Bartók's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta and Schoenberg's Transfigured Night). I first had fears when I listened to Barber's Adagio on this new disc. What is really tragic about this is that it didn't have to happen. Unfortunately, my expectations and hopes have been further dashed by the transfers. I had really been hoping to have Turina's La Oracion, but no. ![]() There are other interesting items in this disc, but I do wish that EMI had included all of the second LP (Landmarks) instead of only five pieces and omitted some of those from The Orchestra. There are some rare items on this disc: Harold Farberman's Evolution (Part I), Vincent Persichetti's March from Divertimento for Band, and the only commercial recording of Stokowski performing the Ravel transcription of Pictures at an Exhibition (Hut on Fowl's Legs and The Great Gate of Kiev). percussion, strings, etc.) in an attempt to educate people. Each selection was supposed to represent some aspect of the orchestra (ex. You may know that Stokowski recorded The Orchestra as a kind of introduction to various aspects of classical music. The cover of the disc has the two titles in the reverse order from the above, but the contents are in the order listed in this article. Let's start with EMI's latest FDS series, The Orchestra and Landmarks of a Distinguished Career on CDM 65614 2. There are three new discs I want to review with you and news of four releases to come in 1996. Neither RCA nor Pearl have any scheduled plans for releases in 1996, but we can hope. There is scattered news of Stokowski releases. ![]()
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