Search - Ludwig van Beethoven, Richard [Classical] Wagner, Leopold Stokowski :: Leopold Stokowski Conducts

The best Stokowski Ninth

Donald Ordway | Los Angeles | 10/04/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There are, to my knowledge, three versions of the Ninth with Stokowski at the podium: the thirties performance with the Philadelphia Orchestra, a later commercial version with the LSO (and, if memory serves, the same cast of soloists). This live performance, pre-dating the final version by a few years, found Stokowski in much the same mind about the music as he was in the thirties: in most important ways, that is to say, choices of tempo and phrasing, this live performance with the LSO is a dead ringer for the older performance (save for a brief patch in the first movement where he seems, for a moment, to lose concentration, (understandable under the circumstances, and even reassuring that we are hearing something live, and vital)), with the important difference that the tympany registers strongly (in the Philadelphia performance the drums sounded like they were being pounded with a baked potato). It is remarkable to think that the person conducting this performance was in his late eighties. (I should be so nimble of mind an dfree of spirit at that age, if I can reach it!)

However, this should not be interpreted as a discouragement from finding and purchasing the commercial recording. Stokowski managed, in his last years, to think and re-think, convincing, the first movement of the Ninth, and I, for one, would not want to be without either of these great performances."