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. Finally, a baldly effective piece, attributed to Stokowski himself, based not just on a Christmas hymn but on Ippolitov-Ivanov's In a Manger.There is scattered news of Stokowski releases. The extra items also weigh in Serebrier's favour: an arrangement of a Tchaikovsky song that explores an astonishingly wide emotional range within a tiny span and the jolly Humoresque, a piano piece that Stravinsky memorably used in his ballet The Fairy's Kiss. If A Night on the Bare Mountain finds the Naxos recording rather less immediate than in the other items, the weight of the arrangement comes over well, and the Khovanshchina Entr'acte has impressive weight and clarity. The mystery of the chimes in the Coronation scene as well as the Death scene are more evocatively handled. The atmospheric qualities of the Boris Godunov Symphonic Synthesis come over superbly too, starting with a hauntingly rarefied bassoon solo, even if the recording catches the clicking of the keys. Yet Serebrier's new performance makes it very convincing with speeds well chosen and the brass wonderfully incisive. In fact – one of the most serious shortcomings – Stokowski omits two of the movements, 'Tuileries' and the 'Market Place at Limoges' on the grounds that they are too French. But with its weighty brass it is certainly more Russian. This Naxos collection of Stokowski's arrangements offers outstanding performances by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, brilliantly recorded.įew would claim that Stokowski's arrangement of Pictures at an Exhibition matches, let alone outshines, that of Ravel. Stokowski's orchestrations, as flamboyant and full of flair as his interpretations as a conductor, have increasingly been accepted and welcomed on disc, a good sign that rigidly purist attitudes have nowadays softened.
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