Search - Leopold Stokowski :: Music of France

Stokowski in his element

Larry VanDeSande | Mason, Michigan United States | 04/30/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"These French radio broadcasts find conductor Leopold Stokowski very much in his element interpreting atmospheric French music. These performances were recorded from mono radio broadcasts during the 1950s.



Three of the five on this CD are performed by a French orchestra, the other two are done by German bands from Frankfurt and Baden-Baden. The mono sound is full and detailed and no allowance need be made on its basis.



This collection begins with a performance of Ibert's "Escales" -- a musical depictton of activity at three Mediterranean ports -- a Stokowski specialty. He regularly scheduled it on concert programs and has a commercial recording of the music on EMI, a CD that includes many of the performances included on this disk.



While the studio performances on the EMI disk are all perfect, I prefer the electricity that is apparent in this concert venue captured by French radio. Sometimes they are captured a bit too closely as not very careful listening will pick up the Gallic announcer's voice at the beginning of the next piece.



Ravel's dance, "Alborada del gracioso", was another Stoki regular piece and he does fine work here, as well. Having said that, some listeners may find a slight overindulgence in the engineering and be required to fidget with controls to master it.



Next come two more of Stoki's most beloved items from France -- Debussy's "Images" from "Iberia" and "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Fawn". These pieces come closer to defining Stokowksi and his attention to the subtle beauties of this music than any other.



As well as coloring the tunes like no one else, Stokowski projects these lilting impressionistic paintings with a broad brush that affects soft strokes. In other words, Stoki lays is on but is always in control, coloring the music in his unique way. Many conductors bring out the subtlety in these scores as well or better than Stokowksi, but none combine the flesh and blood of the conductor's re-creation as well.



This collection of concert pieces concludes with Darius Milhaud's "Concerto for Percussion and Small Orchestra", a fiery piece that is marginally less associated with Stokowski. I find this lively and brief (8:28) concerto a fitting conclusion to this unforgettable concert of French bon bons.



You can look far before you find an hour's worth of music as satisfying as this. Stokowski weaves his magic wand during every minute of these performances. The playing is often neither refined nor up to the standard set on the EMI disk, but I find these gritty, live performances have a soul that is missing from his studio performances. I would recommend these to anyone that loves this music or is enthralled by Stokowski."

All French, all mono, all mesmerizing

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 12/29/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Spirit conquers substance here. Stokowski roamed the earth for the better part of forty years after he left the Philadelphia Orch, and he wound up conducting some ragged bands, as on this CD. But here was a man possessed by music for ten decades, and I can't consider not being fascinated by this Berlioz of the odium. We get a potpourri of French chestnuts in squeaky sound from squeaky orchestras, but none of that matters given Stokowski's elan and unshakable musicality.



The dates are 1952-55, the locales range from Paris to Frankfurt and Baden-Baden. Be prepared for the French radio announcer who intones "Alborada del gracioso" after the piece has already begun. The only really decent sonics are from Frankfurt for Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun; elsewhere the sound tends to fade in and out a bit. I don't care if I ever hear Milhaud's Concerto for Percussion and Small Orchestra ever again; it's an careless, noisy eight minutes. But the Debussy Iberia, Ibert Escales, and Ravel Alborada are infectious and full of brio, a wonderful reminder of Stokowski in his not-quite-best but altogether enjoyable mode."