Eugene Ormandy (conductor)
Ormandy and The Philadelphia Orchestra - The Early Years - Volume 2
Georg Philip TELEMANN (1681-1767)
Suite for Flute and Strings TWV55: a2 [18:10]
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
Divertimento No 10 K247 [19:06]
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
Symphony No 1 in C major, Op 21 [26:10]
Jean SIBELIUS (1865-1957)
Finlandia Op 26 [7:54]
The Swan of Tuonela [8:30]
Lemminkäinen’s Return [5:34]
Symphony No 1 in E minor, Op 39 [37:29]
Georg ENESCU (1881-1955)
Romanian Rhapsody No 1, Op 11 [10:22]
rec. studio, 1937-1941
PRISTINE AUDIO PASC605 [63:19 + 68:48]
The legacy on record of Eugene Ormandy (1899-1985), born Jenő Blau in Hungary, is enjoying a healthy re-evaluation. Sony have recently released a gargantuan box of 120 CDs of his mono recordings with the Philadelphia Orchestra. It comes with superb documentation and has been enthusiastically reviewed by Rob Cowan who was largely responsible for my initial interest in historical and comparative recordings, starting from his reviews in the late 1980s. I was fortunate to purchase this Ormandy box which proudly stares at me in my listening room. I sincerely hope I’ll have time to hear it all; that which I have heard is sensational.
Before moving to Columbia in 1944, Ormandy recorded with what was Leopold Stokowski’s orchestra (the Philadelphia) for RCA/Victor. Pristine Audio are steadily releasing a series of transfers of which this is the second. I see that the third (PASC634) has just been issued and I hope to review this as I was most impressed by the first movement of Brahms 2. This well-filled double set follows on from the generally well received Volume 1 (Pristine PASC578) reviewed by Jonathan Woolf and Richard Masters. The latter made a valid point that “the majority of these recordings are good performances by a good orchestra led by a good conductor. Other than their value as historical documents, there is nothing unique about them purely as recorded performances, and I suspect that were they to be released today, they would garner a collective shrug.” Compared with almost all the Pristine releases which I’ve been fortunate to hear and review; especially those by Toscanini and Klemperer (Mozart), the first CD in the present double generally falls into this category; that’s with the exception of the Mozart. The second CD is an altogether different matter.
CD1 starts somewhat anonymously with Telemann’s Suite in A Minor which features the fine flute playing of William Kincaid described by Jonathan Woolf, on a Stokowski release, as producing a very oscillatory sound. Telemann is not a composer who, in my book, rises above the pleasant. Hearing performances from eighty years ago isn’t going to change that view. It is certainly well played and must have been enjoyed by Baroque fans who had little to hear beyond trail-blazing efforts by the Busch Chamber Players and Stokowski transcriptions. As with the Mozart, Ormandy never returned to these works; at least not in the recording studio.
As Mark Obert-Thorn points out, the Mozart Divertimento is probably the rarest of all of Ormandy’s Philadelphia 78s due to the way it was originally packaged: three discs: two 10-inch and one 12-inch. The last of these is almost invariably found broken in the album. This was one of the hazards of shellac. I remember a disastrous day when I broke 78s of Reginald Kell playing Mozart and Elvis Presley’s “All shook up”.
The Divertimento is very well played and enjoyable. I suppose that one wouldn’t place Ormandy’s Mozart on the same plane as Fritz Busch or Bruno Walter but it’s certainly more empathetic than Toscanini, much as I love Toscanini’s NYPO “Haffner Symphony” which is in a totally essential Pristine collection which I reviewed eighteen months ago. I particularly liked the third movement Menuetto e Trio. As his sole recording of this delightful work it makes it worth hearing; let alone that Ormandy isn’t really known for Mozart.
I always enjoy hearing Beethoven’s First Symphony. It was a piece I studied whilst at school. The first three movements of Ormandy’s 1937 recording are quite simply the most extraordinary I’ve ever heard; and it’s well over fifty, over the years. Ormandy treats this work of 1800 as if it’s Bruckner, of whom he was a follower if not a totally successful practitioner. He includes repeats and, to be honest, it was quite an effort to play it through. What happened when orchestra and conductor came to the final allegro-molto e vivace, I’m uncertain,
but that movement is far more successful. I remember being shocked how Mengelberg twisted tempos around in his Concertgebouw recordings but here Ormandy seems anachronistic as
is, to be brutally honest, most of the first CD. The Beethoven had a short lifespan as a set as the famous Toscanini BBC recording came out eight months later. As John Quinn states in his review of the Naxos CD, which also has the Fourth Symphony, the CD is certainly worth a fiver. I have both recordings in the Toscanini “Icon” box (EMI/Warner).
There’s a completely different mood and level of performance with the second Pristine CD and, I think, it’s slightly regrettable that it’s strapped to what are routine performances on CD1. Ormandy was a fabulous conductor of Jean Sibelius and amongst many other stereo gems, surely due for inclusion in a big stereo box sometime is the Sibelius Sony budget set that I bought a few years ago (review). “Finlandia” blazes away and despite, or is it because of, its age and the fact that it was of necessity recorded live,
it has a real passion which greatly moved me. Its tune is used as a hymn and it certainly has a rousing effect here. Some of these recordings were made to honour Sibelius’ seventy-fifth birthday; I’m sure he would have enjoyed this. The “Swan of Tuonela” has great atmosphere and shows the orchestra and Ormandy in the strongest light. A slightly later “Lemminkäinen’s Return” from 1947 is on another Pristine disc (review). Here it is again very lively with pace, vigour and nigh perfection from the fabled Philadelphia strings. I have not heard the Pristine transfer but the recordings are in the Sony box and I look forward to encountering this.
The recording of Symphony No 1 was previously released on Biddulph (review) in which the 1940 “Lemminkäinen’s Return” was also present and was preferred to Beecham’s fabled recording on EMI/Warner; high praise. Our reviewer wrote of it, and I quote: “To get a handle on the orchestra's whip-crack precision and character listen to the opening note which goes with the 'whump' of a petrol aerosol ignition”; I don’t think I can improve upon that.
The 1940 recording of the Symphony was Ormandy’s second. The first was in 1935 in Minneapolis which has been released by Dante-Lys but which seems not to have been reviewed. I have read favourable reports of it and it’s available on YouTube. In the case of this Symphony the first choice for me and many is the Barbirolli 1960s reading with the Hallé. The recording is now splendidly refurbished in a big box that is even more impressive than the Sony Ormandy which has been very positively reviewed by Tully Potter and endorsed by our founder Dr Len Mullenger as the way to re-master and re-release vintage recordings: Listening Studio report. I thought Ormandy was very fine and gripping throughout and one can spot how Sibelius was influenced by Wagner and Tchaikovsky, whilst being clearly the composer of later symphonies.
Enescu’s “Romanian Rhapsody No 1” must have given great joy
during those war-time years. I always enjoyed hearing them and do so again now. Once again, Ormandy and the Philadelphians let their collective hair down and bring this brilliant disc to a splendid conclusion.
All in all, this 2 CD set is something of a mixed blessing. The first disc is really for Ormandy completists, despite the fine Mozart. I will certainly play that extraordinary first movement of Beethoven 1 whenever I look to illustrate a bizarre interpretation. The second disc is a success from start to finish and I loved every pulsating minute.
As ever, congratulations must go to Mark Obert-Thorn and Andrew Rose at Pristine. I’d love to hear the other two volumes; they’ll certainly be interesting.
David R Dunsmore
Contents
CD 1 [63:18]
TELEMANN Suite in A minor for Flute and Strings, TWV 55:a2
1. I Ouverture [4:50]
2. II Les plaisirs [2:02]
3. III Air à L’Italienne [4:04]
4. IV Menuet [II] [2:13]
5. VI Passepied I; II [1:07]
6. VII Polonaise [2:19]
7. V Réjouissance [1:33]
William Kincaid (flute)
rec. 15 March 1941 ∙ Matrices: CS 062546-1, 062547-2A, 062548-1A, 062549-1 ∙ First issued on Victor 11-8120/2 in album M-890
MOZART Divertimento No 10 in F major for Strings and 2 Horns, K.247
8. 1st Mvt. - Allegro [5:52]
9. 2nd Mvt. - Andante grazioso [5:29]
10. 3rd Mvt. - Menuetto; Trio [3:12]
11. 4th Mvt. - Andante - Allegro assai [4:33]
rec. 17 April 1938 ∙ Matrices: BS 022328/31; CS 022332/3 (all Take 1) ∙ First issued on Victor 2014/5 and 15639 in album M-603
BEETHOVEN Symphony No 1 in C major, Op 21
12. 1st Mvt. - Adagio molto - Allegro con brio [9:35]
13. 2nd Mvt. - Andante cantabile con moto [7:12]
14. 3rd Mvt. - Menuetto: Allegro molto e vivace [3:29]
15. 4th Mvt. - Adagio - Allegro molto e vivace [5:49]
rec. 9 January 1937 ∙ Matrices: CS 03194/9 and 04000/1 (all Take 1) ∙ First issued on Victor 14691/4 in album M-409
CD 2 [68:48]
1. SIBELIUS Finlandia, Op 26 [7:54]
rec. 20 October 1940 ∙ Matrices: CS 047821-2 and 047822-2 ∙ First issued on Victor 17701 in album M-750
2. SIBELIUS The Swan of Tuonela [No 2 of Lemminkäinen Suite, Op 22] [8:30]
John Minsker (English horn)
rec. 20 October 1940 ∙ Matrices: CS 047823-2 and 047824-2 ∙ First issued on Victor 17702 in album M-750
3. SIBELIUS Lemminkäinen’s Return [No 4 of Lemminkäinen Suite, Op 22] [5:34]
rec. 20 October 1940 ∙ Matrices: CS 047823-2 and 047824-2 ∙ First issued on Victor 17702 in album M-750
SIBELIUS Symphony No 1 in E minor, Op 39
4. 1st Mvt. - Andante, ma non troppo - Allegro energico [9:40]
5. 2nd Mvt. - Andante (ma non troppo lento) [9:26]
6. 3rd Mvt. - Scherzo: Allegro [4:46]
7. 4th Mvt. - Finale (Quasi una fantasia) [12:37]
rec. 25 October 1941 ∙ Matrices: CS 071200-2A, 071201-1, 071202-1, 071203-1, 071204-1, 071205-1, 071206-1 and 071207-1 ∙ First issued on Victor 18499/502 in album M-881
8. ENESCU Romanian Rhapsody No 1, Op 11 [10:22]
rec. 1 August 1941 ∙ Matrices: CS 066735-1 and 066736-2A ∙ First issued on Victor 18201 in album M-830
Philadelphia Orchestra/Eugene Ormandy
Recordings made in the Academy of Music, Philadelphia
