Leopold Stokowski: Decca Recordings, 1965-1972 (Original Masters Limited Edition) [Box set]

Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer), William [Composer] Byrd (Composer), Jeremiah Clarke (Composer), Franz [Vienna] Schubert (Composer), Frederic Chopin (Composer), Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky (Composer), Henri Duparc (Composer), Sergey Rachmaninov (Composer), Claude Debussy (Composer), Alexander Scriabin (Composer), Cesar Franck (Composer), Edward Elgar (Composer), Hector Berlioz (Composer), Maurice Ravel (Composer), Igor Stravinsky (Composer), Olivier Messiaen (Composer), Leopold Stokowski (Conductor), Czech Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra), London Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra), New Philharmonia Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, New Philharmonia Orchestra
• Conductor: Leopold Stokowski
• Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach, William [Composer] Byrd, Jeremiah Clarke, Franz [Vienna] Schubert, Frederic Chopin, et al.
• Audio CD (November 25, 2003)
• SPARS Code: ADD
• Number of Discs: 5
• Format: Box set
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Decca
• ASIN: B0000B0A0P
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #156,761 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #39 in Music > Classical > Forms & Genres > Variations > Passacaglias
  • #46 in Music > Classical > Ballets & Dances > Pavanes
  • #68 in Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Modern, 20th, & 21st Century > Composers > Scriabin, Alexander

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stupendous Stokowski, March 29, 2004

By 

Michael B. Richman (Portland, Maine USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Leopold Stokowski: Decca Recordings, 1965-1972 (Original Masters Limited Edition) (Audio CD)

This five disc box set featuring the Decca Recordings (1965-72) of conductor Leopold Stokowski is among the latest batch of releases in the limited edition "Original Masters" series. While parts of this particular collection have been available on CD in the past (in the old "Phase 4" and "Weekend Classics" series), some of this material is being made available for the first time internationally. Those performances include Franck's Symphony (Hilversium RPO, 1970), Elgar's Enigma Variations (Czech PO, 1972), Ravel's "Fanfare" (Hilversium, 1970) and Messiaen's "L'Ascension" (London SO, 1970). Other highlights include an entire disc (CD1) of Stokowski's Transcriptions, and a delightful reading of Berlioz's "Symphonie Fantastique" with the New Philharmonia Orchestra from 1968. In all, another great set in the "Original Masters" series.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stokowski in Phase 4 land, Vol. 1, September 21, 2006

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Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Leopold Stokowski: Decca Recordings, 1965-1972 (Original Masters Limited Edition) (Audio CD)

Decca has pulled a lot of Stokowski's gaudy Phase 4 recordings off the market so that they can reappear in this box set, but the company had already licensed many out to another label, Cala, that specializes in all things Stokowski. So if you pick and choose, you can buy your favorites recordings individually with a little effort. Of the two volumes in the Original Masters series, this one is the more interesting musically.

For one thing, it features two of the conductor's great strengths: his incomparable Bach transcriptions (no one else performs them with the same total commitment) and his Debussy and Ravel. Admittedly, this La Mer and Daphnis and Chloes have been multi-miked within an inch of their lives, and neither represents Stokowski as wonderuflly as his EMI Debussy collection, but if you love the old magician, you'll love these readings.

Aslo very appealing are the Enigma Variations, which Stokowski recorded only once, and the Franck D minor Sym., though don't expect world-class execution in either case. Stokowski championed early Messiaen in l'Ascension, and here is his last version, along with a swooning and seductive Scriabin Poeme d'Extase.

You have to adore recorded excess to swallow this Symphonie fantastique and Firebird, both gorgeous in a kind of Las Vegas neon billboard sort of way. But for geneations of listeners, that's what Stokowski is all about. What he's not about, sadly, is the wretchedly eccentric and nearly unlistenable Tchaikovsky Fifth Sym., the only performance in this whole set that made me hold my nose.

In all, thee are enough goodie here to justify buying the whole box, unless you want to pick and choose, in which case turn to Cala's excellent reissues.