Customer Reviews

The Fantastic Leopold Stokowski: Transcriptions For Orchestra

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops take a break from their usual contemporary program; to perform this eclectic selection of transcriptions by the flamboyant Leopold Stokowski. The novice wouldn't have known that Stokowski got his start in 1909 with the Cincinnati Symphony. I guess they are paying homage to him with this album. Where other discs usually concentrate on just Bach or baroque items; this disc offers orchestrations from Boccherini to Rachmaninoff. The digital recording is fine and detailed complementing the instrumentation. Though purists find Stokowski's meddling offensive, his transcriptions can make classical music more approachable to new ears. Kunzel kind of gives us his version of Stokowki's greatest hits, showing serious affection for the music. You get "Toccata and Fugue"
to start it off, and a very different "Great Gate of Kiev", less congested in orchestration than the Ravel, to end it. Most of the pieces have bombastic finales, which include heavy brass and percussion and even carillons ring out. A very likable program that won't fade with repeated listening. Add a star if your not aware that Stokowki's own recordings of these pieces are still available.

I have loved classical music for several years and am always looking to expand my library with composers or compositions I have not yet heard, or variations on some of my favorite compositions. This disc would fall under the latter of those 2 pursuits.
I was pointed to Stokowski by another fan of Debussy (who has 2 tracks present on this disc) because of Stokowski's transcriptions of the Debussy pieces, but what I heard was a revelation beyond Debussy and beyond simple classical transcriptions.
Every piece is a tribute to a man who heard something more when he heard classical pieces. The fact that some find Stokowski to be a 'hack' or interfering is moot, in my opinion. He was a genius. He could take a beautiful piece of music and somehow twist it and reshape it to sound completely different without taking away the original sound.

Primary example is "La Cathedrale Engloutie" ("The Engulfed {or 'Sunken'} Cathedral"). This piece was composed by Debussy, my favorite composer, and I have always loved it. To hear this piece, as transcribed by Stokowski, is a gift to someone who has listened to the piece countless times; it was like hearing it again for the first time; it is surreal; a wonder. Another example is Clair de Lune, again by Debussy, again completely reworked, and again, absolutely stunning; stirring and emotionally uplifting; again, a gift, like hearing it for the first time.

Another offering on this disc is an incredible and completely different, yet the same, transcription of Mussorgsky's "The Great Gate of Kiev" from 'Pictures at an Exhibition', which has been transcribed for Orchestra by Ravel (perhaps the master of transcriptions) but I believe that Stokowski has outdone the master this time; the piece is amazing. Another piece by Mussorgsky included on this disc is the piece made famous for children around the world some 50 years ago on 'Fantasia', "Night On Bald Mountain". Stokowski has made this piece both approachable and enjoyable without removing the depth and texture that Mussorgsky intended when he wrote the tone poem.

Albeniz' "Fete-Dieu A Seville" is, perhaps, the most shocking transcription on this CD. The haunting treatment is simply bone chilling, and I mean that in a good way. Rachmaninoff's "Prelude In C Sharp Minor" is another wonder, both haunting and soothing at the same time. Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" is given an overhaul for the symphony and, for the first time ever, I actually like it better than the original piece for piano. Brahms has his "Hungarian Dance No. 6" transcribed and it is very enjoyable. 2 pieces by Bach, "Little Fugue In G Minor" and "Toccata & Fugue In D minor", are both done well; I don't care too much for Bach, but these pieces are both enjoyable at the least. Finally, there is the "Menuet" by Boccherini, a piece that has been overplayed to death, but which receives new life in it's treatment here.

All in all, I could not more highly recommend a single CD of so many great pieces by varying composers. The fact Stokowski was able to take such beautiful, boring or overplayed music, and make it so incredibly fresh and enjoyable, is amazing.

You must own this CD. Order it right away!

Arranged by the greatest, conducted by one of the greatest, and performed by the best you could not ask for anything more. These performances will inspire forever. Five stars do not do this music compilation justice!

I had heard Stokowskis orchestrated version of Rachmaninoffs Prelude in C sharp minor on the radio and had to buy this CD. I was captured by the power and strength of the music that Stokowski had given to an already powerful piece of music. I have enjoyed the other transcriptions on the CD as well. An excellent addition to any music library!

I had to keep adjusting the volume quite often. Perhaps if I had been in a quiet auditorium, it would have been different, but I was in a small car.