Search - Beethoven, Britten, Lane :: Symphony 7

Not all there

03/30/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The Britten is an unfortunate adventure for Stokowski. He sets out to give each variation his own individual character. Some are them are striking, but they stand as individual set-pieces, with little continuity between them. Sort of like a pearl necklace without a string. (I toyed with the idea of reprogramming the order to see if I could notice the difference.) His Falla is very thrilling and propulsive, although I wonder if any dancer could manage such tempi.
However, both the Britten and Falla are currently available of Music & Arts. Therefore, I would say that the decision to buy this disc stands or falls with the Beethoven. This Seventh reminds me very much of the 1927 Philadelphia, but a bit more mellow and with less exaggerated tempos (less driven in parts of the outer movements, less pronounced ritards in the finale). My enthusiasm is tempered by the fact that it is not all there, literally. 60% of the Scherzo is missing (instead of ABABA,you get ABA) and some repeated material in the finale is cut. The reason for this is known only to God and Stokowski, and it renders the performance problematic. For the most part I enjoyed the performance, but the missing material was jarring and threw me out of the moment."