STOKOWSKI’S FINEST MOMENTS: VOLUME ONE.
Wagner : Die Walkure, ‘The Ride Of The Valkyrie’. London Symphony Orchestra. 4.52.
Tchaikovsky : Sleeping Beauty Waltz. New Philharmonia Orchestra. 3.22.
Mussorsky/Stokowski : Night On Bald Mountain. London Symphony Orchestra. 9.19.
7 a - Ravel: L’Eventail de Jeanne, ‘’Fanfarg’’. Hilversum Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. 2.09.
Debussy/Stokowski: The Engulfed Cathedral. New Philharmonia Orchestra. 7.00.
, Stravinsky : Pastorale. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. 3.40.
&
* ; Handel: The Messiah, ‘’Hallelujah’’. London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus. 4.15.
STOKOWSKI'S FINEST MOMENTS
Leopold Stokowski has long been one of the music world’s
most controversial and stimulating personalities—a man who
brings drama, excitement and novelty into the concert hall. His
music making is always alive and experimental, his performances
vibrant and sonorous—characterised by his own belief ‘‘that
music can be an inspirational force in all our lives—that its
eloquence and the depth of its meaning are all-important—that
music comes from the heart and returns to the heart—that music
is a spontaneous, impulsive expression—that its range is without
limit and is forever growing.”
Stokowski was born in London on 18 April, 1882, the son of
Kopernik Stokowski, a Polish cabinet-maker, and his wife
Annie-Marion. Leopold Stokowski is his real name (contrary to
some rumours which have gained currency over the years) and at
no time has he ever changed it from—or to—anything else. He did,
however, amend the spelling to Stokovski when he conducted his
first concerts—presumably to induce people to pronounce it
correctly.
Like all great musicians, the young Leopold took to music at
a very early age and he was playing the violin by the time he was
six years old. Later he took up the piano and organ and at the age
of thirteen became the youngest student to enter the Royal
College of Music. His teachers included Sir Walford Davies, Sir
Charles Stanford and Sir Hubert Parry,.and in 1903 Stokowski
took his B.Mus. at Queen’s College, Oxford. By this time he had
become organist at St. James's, Piccadilly, and when a similar
appointment became vacant at St. Bartholomew’s in New York,
Stokowski eagerly crossed the Atlantic to take it up. America
was to become Stokowski’s home, and some years later he became
a naturalised citizen of the United States.
PRODUCER: TONY D’AMATO.
ENGINEER: ARTHUR LILLEY.
LINER: SPC 21074
In his summer vacations Stokowski returned to Europe to
study conducting, and he heard Mahler, Miuick, Wood, Nikisch,
and the conductor he admired above all others, Hans Richter.
His first opportunity to conduct came in Paris in 1908, and the
following year he made his London debut. He returned to
America to become conductor of the Cincinatti Orchestra and
his three years there could be regarded as his ‘apprenticeship’. In
the spring of 1912 he came to England again to conduct the
London Symphony Orchestra for the first time, and when he
returned to America it was to take over the Philadelphia
Orchestra.
Now began one of the great musical partnerships of the
century. Stokowski’s achievements became legendary—he built
the orchestra into a flexible ensemble, distinguished by glowing
timbre and brilliant precision, and gave it a distinctive ‘sound’
which became synonymous with his own name. He championed
the modern composer and brought music to young people with
special youth concerts. Millions of listeners at home heard
Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra through recordings and
broadcasting. To cinema-goers he brought a new concept of
classical music with his appearances in films. One of these—Walt
Disney's ‘‘Fantasia’’—is still being shown after more than thirty
years. It remains a unique and highly effective achievement, and
its best moments provide a vivid realisation of the combination
of sound and vision. One of the items in the film—which included
music by Bach, Beethoven and Stravinsky—was Mussorsky’s
“Night on Bald Mountain’’—an eerie tone-poem depicting the
witches’ sabbath. This is a special favourite of Stokowski’s, and
its inclusion in the present album is highly appropriate. Like the
Debussy and Stravinsky items also presented here, it is in
Stokowski’s own orchestration.
After nearly a quarter of a century in Philadelphia, Stokowski
had reached the pinnacle of success and now felt the urge to
move on. He wanted to form an orchestra consisting entirely of
young musicians, and in 1940 the All-American Youth Orchestra
was born. Stokowski severed his links with Philadelphia and took
his new orchestra on a good-will tour of the South Americas.
But the youthful ensemble was ill-fated and soon its members
were called up to serve in the war. Stokowski found time to
write a book entitled ‘‘Music for All of Us’’ and he was for a
while guest conductor of the NBC Symphony Orchestra. During
the war he formed the New York City Symphony and Hollywood
Bowl Symphony Orchestras, and later became co-conductor of
the New York Philharmonic.
In 1951 Stokowski returned to London again and began a
pattern of guest conducting in England and Europe. He was for a
few years chief conductor of the Houston Symphony Orchestra
(1955-60) and in 1961 directed some memorable performances
of Puccini's ‘‘Turandot”’ at the Metropolitan Opera House in New
York. He then founded and was the Music Director of another
youthful orchestra—the American Symphony in New York.
Leopold Stokowski was already an octogenarian when he
began recording regularly in Phase Four Stereo. Always an inno-
vator in recording techniques, he took to the multi-channel
System with intense interest, constantly striving for even better
results. Some of these results are preserved in the present
recording. In their beauty of tone, intensity and ‘conviction,
sensuousness and colour, they are a tribute to the ever-youthful
vitality of one of the most illustrious conductors of our time.
Edward Johnson
stereo
MADE IN ENGLAND THE DECCA RECORD CO.LTD.
SPEED 33-4 Side (ZAL. 10884)
SPC.21074
@® 1968, 1967,* 1966**
*1, THE RIDE OF THE VALKYRIES (Wagner) (5.02) +
**2. SLEEPING BEAUTY WALTZ (Tchaikovsky) (3.26) +
3. NIGHT ON THE BARE MOUNTAIN
(Mussorgsky, arr. Stokowski) (9.19) t
LEOPOLD STOKOWSKI
Conducting
+ LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
+ NEW PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA
MADE IN ENGLAND THE DECCA RECORD CO_LTD.
SPEED. 33-3 Side (ZAL.10885)
SPC.21074
©) 1971, 1969,* 1966**
1. FANFARE FROM “‘L’EVENTAIL DE JEANNE”’ (Ravel) (2.04)
*2. “THE ENGULFED CATHEDRAL (Debussy, arr. Stokowski) (6.33) +
3. ‘‘PASTORALE”’ (Stravinsky) (3.40) §
**4. “AMEN” FROM MESSIAH (Handel) (4.25) +
LEOPOLD STOKOWSKI
Conducting
+ LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
+ NEW PHILHARMONIA ORCHESTRA
§ ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
+ HILVERSUM RADIO PHILHARMONIC
ORCHESTRA
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