GHCD 2335 - Leopold Stokowski (1882-1977) – Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev (1891-1953): The Love for Three Oranges -live 18 November 1941, Cosmopolitan Opera–– Edward Alexander MacDowell (1860-1908): From Piano Concerto No.2 in D minor Op. 23 1st and 2nd movements - Frances Nash, piano - 7 April 1942, NBC Studio 8-H, New York - Johannes Brahms (1833-1897): Symphony No. 4 in E minor Op 98 - 18 November 1941, Cosmopolitan Opera, NBC Symphony Orchestra Joseph Deems Taylor (1855-1966): From the Opera in 3 Acts "Ramuntcho" – Act III ballet Music 26 December 1943, NBC Studio 8-H, New York, NBC Symphony Orchestra – 73:52
Audiophile Audition – Monday April 07, 2008
Stokowski Conducts PROKOFIEV: The Love of 3 Oranges--Suite; MACDOWELL: Piano Concerto No. 2 in D Minor; BRAHMS: Symphony No. 4 in E Minor; TAYLOR: Ramuntcho - Intro. and Ballet Music, Act III - Frances Nash, p./NBC Sym./Leopold Stokowski - Guild
Stokowski loved to premier new works that he did not necessarily program again, such as the music from Deems Taylor's opera "Ramuntcho."
Stokowski
Conducts = PROKOFIEV: The Love of 3 Oranges--Suite, Op. 33a; MACDOWELL: Piano
Concerto No. 2 in D Minor, Op. 23: two movements; BRAHMS: Symphony No. 4 in E
Minor, Op. 98; TAYLOR: Ramuntcho--Introduction and Ballet Music, Act III -
Frances Nash, piano/ NBC Symphony Orchestra/Leopold Stokowski
Guild GHCD 2335 mono, 73:52 (Distrib. Albany) ****:
Broadcast performances 1941-1943 from the NBC Symphony under Leopold Stokowski
(1882-1977) in good to muddy sound, with Stokowski himself offering commentary
prior to each of the works except for Taylor‘s. The most curious of the pieces
presented is the MacDowell (7 April 1942), the concerto truncated, presumably,
to fit the 60-minte format of the sponsored radio performance. Stokowski liked
MacDowell’s D Minor Concerto and programmed it with several distinguished
soloists over his career: Teresa Carreno, Leo Ornstein, Gary Graffman, and Andre
Watts. Frances Nash proves a worthy exponent of the two movements we have
preserved, moving with brisk, powerful chords through the first movement,
Stokowski’s graceful strings and winds underneath. Better sonic definition for
the fleet Presto, kind of perpetual motion for keyboard and orchestra, with a
jaunty middle section.
Stokowski’s NBC programs open with three movements from Prokofiev’s opera The
Love of Three Oranges (18 November 1941), of which the last section, the
popular March, Stokowski drives with furious aplomb, ending before the audience
is quite ready. The large work, the Brahms Fourth Symphony (18 November 1941),
like the Prokofiev comes from the Cosmopolitan Opera House, unlike the other
two, from Studio 8H. Stokowski’s introductory remarks suffer some shears, but
the music starts off quickly and never slows down. The first to record the
complete Brahms Symphonies (in Philadelphia), it remains difficult to place
Stokowski’s Brahms into a definite tradition, unlike Toscanini who admired
Nikisch and Steinbach in Brahms. Given the frenetic pace of this E Minor
Symphony realization, we might speculate Boult (via Nikisch) to be an influence.
The speed and spontaneity of execution testify to the virtuoso status of the NBC
players, who had to adjust their usual perceptions of this work from Maestro
Toscanini. A terrific peroration ends the first movement’s counterpoint, and the
audience applauds. The Phrygian Andante moderato receives the broadest
treatment of any of the four movements, Stokowski allowing his winds and French
horn breathing room, then his strings sing and usher in the martial procession.
A grand final peroration, and the audience applauds. The Scherzo moves at
blinding speed, at least to bar 181 (Poco meno presto), then hustling for all
the NBC is worth to the three tympanic thuds, and audience applause. One
gripping, gnarly passacaglia ensues, no kidding around, the strings in a
molasses of somber fury. Only the flute variation basks in its own sound, then
intertwines with oboe and clarinet. The whole symphony took 36 minutes,
breathless but not shapeless, and often gripping.
Stokowski closes (26 December 1943) with music by critic and composer Deems
Taylor (1885-19660, his orchestral music from the opera Ramuntcho
(1942). The music has a swaying power and rich orchestration that might pass
for Hollywood Latin America. An oboe solo leads to an Amazon-sounding
ostinato and a flimsy melody that rises in volume, if not in power. Another
musical curiosity from Stokowski, who loved to premier new works that he did not
necessarily program again.
-- Gary Lemco
Page created Friday April 11 2008