Leopold Stokowski – The Columbia Stereo Recordings (FLAC)

Conductor: Leopold Stokowski
Number of Discs: 10
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Sony
Catalogue: 88691971152
Release: 2012
Size: 2.26 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover

CD 01
Falla: El Amor Brujo
01. I. Introducción y escena (Introduction and Scene)
02. II. En la cueva – La Noche [in the Cave (Night-time)]
03. III. Canción del amor dolido (Song of Love’s Sorrow)
04. IV. El Aparecido (The Apparition)
05. V. Danza del terror (Dance of Terror)
06. VI. El circulo mágico (The Magic Circle)
07. VII. A media noche – Los sortilegios (Midnight – Witchcraft)
08. VIII. Danza ritual del fuego (Ritual Fire Dance)
09. IX. Escena (Scene)
10. X. Canción del fuego fatuo (Song of the Will o’ the Wisp)
11. XI. Pantomima (Pantomime)
12. XII. Danza del juego de amor (Dance of the Game of Love)
13. XIII. Final – Las campanes del amanecer (Finale – The Bells of Morning)

14. Wagner: Tristan und Isolde (Love Music from Acts II & III)

CD 02
Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D Major
01. I. Allegro
02. II. Affettuoso
03. III. Allegro

Bach: Three Choral Preludes
04. Ich ruf zu Dir, Herr Jesu Christ
05. Nun komm der Heiden Heiland
06. Wir glauben all’ an einen Gott

CD 03
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 73 ‘Emperor’
01. I. Allegro
02. II. Adagio un poco mosso
03. III. Rondo. Allegro

CD 04
Ives: Symphony No. 4
01. I. Prelude – Maestoso
02. II. Allegretto
03. III. Fugue – Andante moderato
04. IV. Largo maestoso

05. Ives: Robert Browning Overture

Ives: 4 Songs
06. Majority (or The Masses) – First Stereo Recording
07. They are there! (A War Song March) – Première Recording
08. Election (It Strikes Me That) – Première Recording
09. Lincoln, the Great Commoner – First Stereo Recording

CD 05
Bizet: Carmen Suite No. 1
01. VI. Les toréadors
02. I. Prélude
03. II. Aragonaise
04. III. Intermezzo
05. IV. Séguedille
06. V. Les dragons d’Alcala

Bizet: Carmen Suite No. 2
07. I. Marche des contrabandiers
08. II. Habanera
09. V. La garde montante
10. VI. Danse bohème

Bizet: L’Arlesienne Suite No. 1
11. I. Prelude
12. II. Minuet
13. III. Adagietto
14. IV. Carillon

Bizet: L’Arlésienne Suite No. 2
15. I. Pastorale
16. III. Minuet
17. IV. Farandole

CD 06
01. Rimsky-Korsakov: Flight of the Bumble Bee
02. Debussy: Suite bergamasque: Clair de lune
03. Chopin: Marzurka in B-Flat Minor
04. Debussy: La Soirée dans Grenade
05. Novácek: Perpetuum mobile – Concert Caprice Op. 5 No. 4
06. Tchaikovsky: Humoresque, Op. 10 No. 2
07. Albéniz: Fête Dieu à Séville
08. Shostakovich: Prelude in E-FLat Minor
09. Rimsky-Korsakov: Ivan the Terrible
10. Chopin: Prelude in D Minor

CD 07
Sibelius: Symphony No. 1 in E minor, Op. 39
01. I. Andante, ma non troppo; Allegro energico
02. II. Andante (ma non troppo lento)
03. III. Scherzo. Allegro
04. IV. Finale (Quasi una Fantasia). Andante

05. Sibelius: The Swan of Tuonela (from Lemminkäinen Suite, Op. 22)

CD 08
Tchaikovsky: Aurora’s Wedding Ballet Music
01. Introduction (Prologue)
02. Act III: Polacca
03. Pas de Six (Prolgue)
04. Act II: Scene; Danse des Duchesses; Danse des Marquises
05. Act II: Farandole; Danse – Tempo di Mazurka
06. Act III: Pas de Quatre
07. Act III: Pas de Caratère – Chaperon Rouge et de Loup
08. Act III: Pas de Quatre
09. Act III: Coda – The Three Ivans
10. Act III: Pas de Deux
11. Act III: Finale – Tempo di Mazurka; Apothéose

CD 09
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4 in A major, Op. 90 ‘Italian’
01. I. Allegro vivace
02. II. Andante con moto
03. III. Con moto moderato
04. IV. Saltarello: Presto

Bizet: Symphony in C
05. I – Allegro vivo
06. II – Adagio
07. III – Allegro vivace
08. IV – Allegro vivace

CD 10
Brahms: Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73
01. I. Allegro non troppo
02. II. Adagio non troppo
03. III. Allegretto grazioso
04. IV. Allegro con spirito

Brahms: “Tragic” Overture, Op. 81
05. Allegro ma non troppo

In 1960, CBS recorded two LPs as souvenirs of Leopold Stokowski’s return to the Philadelphia Orchestra after an absence of nearly two decades. This included Falla’s El amor brujo, which he had introduced to America in 1922, and one of his celebrated “Symphonic Syntheses” of music from Wagner’s operas. In the original Gramophone review Edward Greenfield wrote: “Never before on disc have I heard a performance of the vividly atmospheric Falla ballet anything like as involving as this …” In the second of his “Philadelphia return” concerts of 1960, Stokowski played three of his famous Bach Transcriptions. He began orchestrating Bach’s organ works in the 1920s, bringing his keyboard music to a wider concert hall audience. His early Philadelphia Orchestra 78s of these arrangements were best-sellers in their day.

Glenn Gould was a great admirer of Stokowski, citing him as a significant influence in his teenage years. He wrote articles about the Maestro and interviewed him for Canadian radio, so it was not surprising that they should get together for a concerto recording. Biographies of Glenn Gould invariably refer to his “eccentricities” as well as his talent, so his collaboration with Stokowski, whose own musical career also had its controversial aspects, inevitably provided posterity with one of the more idiosyncratic readings of Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto.

When Stokowski gave the World Premiere of Ives’s Fourth Symphony in 1965, he pronounced it one of the most difficult works he had ever conducted. In the New York Times, Harold C. Schonberg wrote that the music “throws up spiky walls of sound, the simplest of songs, wild poly-rhythms, clumps of tonalities, and suddenly the quiet of a New England church.”.

The remaining recordings in this set were made during Stokowski’s final years in England. His last public concert in the UK took place in 1974 when he was 92 but he then decided to take a respite from the rigours of live concerts and concentrate on recordings instead. These were made with specially selected musicians who came together for Stokowski’s sessions as the National Philharmonic.

The Maestro’s final recording sessions were devoted to two of the most youthful symphonies ever written, Mendelssohn’s Fourth and Bizet’s Symphony in C. On the final day of the recording, 4 June 1977 the Bizet finale was taped in one complete take which needed no editing. It is that complete take which went onto the finished recording and – since it was the very last time Stokowski conducted – it has considerable historic significance.