A good collection of Stoki specialties doomed by poor sound
Larry VanDeSande | Mason, Michigan United States | 02/14/2010
(3 out of 5 stars)
"In 2010, with the technology that's available to recording companies, I wonder why a release like this ever has to be. The inimitable Leopold Stokowski recorded all this music in the 1950s, mostly for radio, and these have all been previously released. They form another collection of Stokowski specialties, many of which mainline conductors steer clear from.
Stoki is in his element here, parading through this collection with elan. My complaint is the miserable sound, poor even by mid-1950s radio standards. With the technology available today to clean up this kind of thing, this release should have been better. It appears Amazon imported this from Hannsler Classics and the recording company did nothing to improve the old sound.
For those interested in this collection, here are its contents:
-- Boris Blacher: Orchestral Variations on a Theme by Paganini Op. 26
-- Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet Suite 3 Op. 101 (three selections)
-- Darius Milhaud Concerto for Percussion (may be the same recording that's on this much better collection Leopold Stokowski Conducts Music Of France.
-- Werner Egk: French Suite After Rameau for big orchestra
-- Richard Wagner: Tristan and Isolde Vorspeil & Liebestood
-- Modest Mussorgsky: Intermezzo for Kovanshcihina
-- Peter Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5 (done much better on this modern stereo recording Tchaikovsky: Symphony No.5/Glazunov: Violin Concerto.
Stokowski fans like me will find this recording attractive but beware poor sound, especially at this price. You can find all this repertory elsewhere on Amazon."