Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
Siciliano from Violin Sonata No.4 in C minor, BWV1017 [4:02]
Mein Jesu, BWV487 [5:05]
Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV582 [13:48]
Antonio VIVALDI (1678-1741)
Concerto Grosso in D minor Op.3 No.11 (L’Estro Armonico) [13:15]
Antonio CESTI (1623-1669)
Tu mancavi a tormentarmi, crudelissima speranza [6:23]
Jean-Baptiste LULLY (1632-1687)
Le Triomphe de l’Amour; Nocturne [5:34]
Thésèe; March [1:04]
Girolamo FRESCOBALDI (1583-1643)
Gagliarda [3:32]
Giovanni Pierluigi da PALESTRINA (1525/6-1594)
Adormaus te [2:58] ²
O Bone Jesu [2:14] ²
Giovanni GABRIELI (1553/6-1612)
Canzon Quatri Toni a 15 [7:17]¹
In Ecclesiis Benedicite Domino [10:28] ¹ ² ³
Leopold Stokowski and his Symphony Orchestra
Brass Choir ¹
A Capella Chorus ²
Charles Courboin (organ) ³
rec. 1950-52, Manhattan Center, NYC
Mono transfers
PRISTINE AUDIO PASC391 [75:40]
This is an ingenious piece of programming. Even diehard Stokowski addicts
will have a hard job tracking down these recordings on their shelves. Indeed
it would be impossible if the shelves were exclusively devoted to CD as
none of these pieces has hitherto been transferred to commercial silver
disc. The only chance of acquiring them in that medium is if you had managed
to acquire some of the private discs transferred by Stokowski nut Theo van
der Burg, but the chances of that are slight.
Stokowski was a great transcriber, as we know. Some might scoff at his Albinoni-izing
of Bach’s Siciliano from the Sonata for violin and keyboard in C minor,
but you won’t hear me complain: amplitude and depth. If, by chance,
one isn’t taken by that, then surely the inward meditation of Mein
Jesu will appeal, as will the Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV582.
I find it rather strange that this hasn’t appeared over the last thirty
or so years but the fact is that it hasn’t. All three of these Bach
performances were recorded in 1950. Stokowski demands intense bowing in
the opening Allegro of the Vivaldi Concerto Grosso, and he
vests the slow movement with real warmth. The finale is brilliantly conceived
and projected. His symphony orchestra really dig into the strings in the
Cesti transcription, the seamless bowing and emotive diction easily surviving
the 1952 sonics. The two Lully pieces are descriptive winners, the sassy
brass being particularly effective in the March. The solemn cello-rich voicings
in the Frescobaldi attest to Stokowski’s indelible command of string
voicings and layering. For the Palestrina he is joined by a fruity chorus,
which also contributes to Gabrieli’s In Ecclesiis Benedicite Domino
which receives a performance of outsize panache.
Maybe one of the reasons that these recordings have been overlooked is the
fact that many were favourites of the transcriber and he had earlier recorded
a swathe in Philadelphia. I note that Mark Obert-Thorn did the honours for
the Stokowski Society LP transfer of those Phily recordings [LSSA-5]. Irrespective
of that, many of these pieces exist in multiple performances recorded from
1929 to 1972. Congestion, and the supposition that the Philadelphia 78s
were the ones to go for, has squeezed out these RCA Victors. Most of them
first appeared on album LM-1721; the Bachs were on LM-1133.
Now’s the time then to add these first-rate transfers to your shelves.
Jonathan Woolf
Now’s the time to add these first-rate transfers to your shelves.
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