Thinking back a few years, who would have guessed that by the late 1990s we would have four of Leopold Stokowski’s five commercially recorded Scheherazades simultaneously available on CD, with only the 1964 Decca Phase Four production (10/88) temporarily out of the catalogue. Sumptuousness is the common denominator for all five recordings, supported by varying levels of orchestral distinction: plush and curvaceous in pre-war Philadelphia, dramatic but more refined with the 1951 Philharmonia, marginally overstated with the LSO (Decca’s exaggerated channel separation doesn’t help) and although ‘sensuously beautiful’ in 1975 (to quote EG on the 93-year-old conductor’s RPO Scheherazade), by then rather less well focused than its predecessors.
The Philharmonia version was the first to reinstate a significant passage in ‘The Young Prince and Princess’ (from fig. O) that Stokowski had omitted in his two Philadelphia recordings, while the score’s many solos are graced by the likes of Gareth Morris (flute), Sidney Sutcliffe (oboe), Bernard Walton (clarinet), Dennis Brain (horn) and Harold Jackson (trumpet). String playing is unanimous and full-bodied, though without the luscious portamentos favoured in Philadelphia, and the ebb and flow of Stokowski’s conducting, its palpable sense of narrative, is as vivid as ever. In some respects, I’m tempted to call it the best of the five.
Testament’s ‘dream coupling’ – a long-unavailable Petrushka from 1950 – witnesses a dramatic contrast in recording techniques, with aggressively spotlit solos and explosive tuttis that tend to make Stokowski’s hand-picked ‘Symphony Orchestra’ sounds far larger than it is. Again, the instrumental line-up – largely from the New York Philharmonic this time – will take some beating, with Julius Baker (flute), William Vacchiano (trumpet) and Leonid Hambro (piano) surpassing themselves in terms of virtuosity and characterization.
As in his earlier Philadelphia recording, Stokowski appears to use the 1911 score, though the effect here is quite different. ‘Chez Petrushka’ is ferocious beyond belief; the whole of the Fourth Tableau is awash with colour, and the sum effect of the performance is akin to front-ranking cartoon animation. No version since has made such a poignant statement of the death scene, but I suspect that some readers might find the performance overblown and excessively emotive. Not me, though.
As with Scheherazade and Petrushka, Stokowski gives his all for The Sleeping Beauty sequence, though some of the playing is rather scrappy (try, for example, from 0'13'' into the Prologue’s finale, on track 6). There are cuts and abridgements galore, presumably so that the 52-minute musical sequence could be as musically varied as possible; but there are many wonderful moments, too – not least the rest of the Prologue’s finale, the cello line in the ‘Pas d’action’ and deliciously sweet violins in the ‘Fairy’ Pas de quatre. The aural magnification that affected Petrushka is again in evidence here, though not so conspicuously, and the transfer is excellent.
Stokowski’s Les Preludes – his only recording of the piece – is both lyrical and excitable, but I rather prefer his atmospheric first stereo recording (also with his own orchestra) of The Swan of Tuonela – the one that originally appeared on the Capitol LP ‘Landmarks of a Distinguished Career’ (4/61 – nla) and which is currently available on CD in Europe and America. This 1947 version, though beautifully played (especially by cor anglais soloist Mitchell Miller) is rather lacking in repose.
Stokowski’s only complete pre-war recording of a work by Mozart was also among the last 78 sets he made with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Casual listeners to this enchanting account of the Sinfonia concertante, K297b might be forgiven for thinking that Herbert von Karajan was at the helm. The tone is predominantly mellow; the line, smooth yet malleable, and tempos are generally broad. Among the soloists, oboist Marcel Tabuteau is the star act, but other section leaders are hardly less distinguished. The Pastoral Symphony was recorded a year after Stokowski created the New York City Symphony Orchestra at Mayor Fiorello La Guardia’s behest (the aim being to provide wartime New Yorkers with affordable concerts). High spots of the performance are a propulsive first-movement development section and a leisurely but loving ‘Scene by the brook’ (which lasts all of 16'00''). Again, Cala’s refurbishments could hardly be bettered.RC