Stokowski takes liberties

Press, 8 March 1982, Page 16

Stokowski takes liberties

THE BEST . OF STOKOWSKI. Leopold Stokowski conducts various orchestras playing Vivaldi, Concerto Grosso in D minor. JJS. Bach, Jesu, Joy and Sheep May Safely Graze. Mozart Serenade in B flat K36L Virgil Thomson, The Plow that Broke the Plains. Stravinsky , Soldier’s Tale. World Records WX 4171/2 from Vanguard VSD 707/8 (2 disc set). . Sir Thomas Beecham drew life from his own versions of orchestral he considered the composer should have written them, and more often than not he was convincing, but Stokowski, wanted everything to sound like tomorrow’s product This was all right, too, excepting that half of the time.the idea failed to fire. With this set as a prime example, the Stravinsky and the Thomson are top of the class but the rest are questionable, though never less than interesting. His Vivaldi Concerto Grosso grabs the listener with a fierce ardour that is almost breathtaking and strings calculated to cut the ethero like a knife. It is, incidentally, an unstylish and

■poorly recorded perform- ■ ance. L ' ' • ■' The Bach and Mozart pieces fare little better Stokowski’s arrangements of the two Bach pieces are not good, his fellow arranger, Schickele, being much of the same' mind as Stokowski . with the harmony alone estimated to displease the composer. - . Truncated Mozart doesn’t win any plaudits for; the arranger either. Five movements have been mercilessly sliced to fit on to one side of an LP so that ‘this, the largest of Mozart’s Serenades, is now somewhat less than a paperback version of its former self. ‘ Without a doubt it is the second record which brings the music that lives up to the set title. The little-known Virgil Thomson Suite, The Plow that Broke the Plains, unfolds in broad orchestral sweeps of colour, an idiom which reflects Stokowski’s true genius. Most of this music stems from the pen of the former head critic of the, New York Herald Tribune, who composed much film music and later translated . the best of it into suites, mostly as attractive as the work presented here.

Likewise, the Stravinsky Suite, the Soldier’s Tale, represents the very best of Stokowski’s work, beautifully shaped, crisply rhythmical warm tonally and among the very best of anyone’s repertoire. Many may disagree with these findings, but at least the purchaser should be aware' that some of Stokowski’s arrangements reach a point where one may elect to decide that disfigurement is taking place.

ROSSINI. The Barber of Seville. Luigi Alva, Fritz Ollendorf, Maria Callas, Tito Gobbi, Nicola Zaccaria, Mario Carlin and Gabriella Carturan. Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Alceo Galliera. World Records WE 1524-3 from HMV SLS 853 (3 discs). If anyone is still wondering why WRC has gone back to 1959 for a copy of this set the key to the puzzle is in the name, Callas. At the time this recording was made she was at the peak of her art, great in performance and one of the highest prized artists under contract to EMI.

Superb as she was then, Gobbi was also a considerable force as indeed the whole production was a masterly achievement But it was Maria Callas who was aflame with greatness around whom all else pivoted.

The entire venture, as it now turns out was a complete success. The casting, playing and recording are all

first class so that Rossini’s comic masterpiece comes off as well as anyone could wish/ Historical notes, opera story line and full libretto in two languages are enclosed with the set, so the connoisseur may be reassured that no stone is left unturned.

ELGAR. Symphony No. 2 in E flat major. Op. 63. Sir Adrian Boult conducting the LPO on World Records WE 3917 from HMV SQ ASD 3266.

Sir Adrian Boult was always noted for highly individual accounts of Elgar’s Symphonies and in particular the second; he certainly had enough practice with it, for this is the fifth recording of the particular work and apparently the last word on the subject. Some I have spoken to about this symphony still claim that “they don’t make them like the one on 78s anymore,” and possibly they are right. Whether it was the magic of the first experience of Elgar or the BBC Symphony Orchestra had some irreplaceable charm is out of my sphere but what is evident is the fact that this version is the work of a mature conductor.

The tempos are even, but ;he climaxes are steadily juilt. There is energy there jut not the furious pace ffhich the composer treated t, or Solti, or even some of Boult’s earlier versions. There is warmth and reasoiance as opposed to the shrill edge which Solti managed to contrive.