| | Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake Highlights / Stokowski, NBC So CD Beethoven / NBC Sym Orch / Stokowski / Tchaikovsky Discography of CDs
(1 Customer Review)
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake Highlights / Stokowski, NBC So Music | List Price | $17.98 (You save $3.69) | | Category | Classical Albums, Romantic Period CDs, Orchestral/Symphonic, Classical Period, Sonata, Song, Dance - Classical, Character Piece, Ballet, Waltz, March, Lied, Incidental, Rondo, Mazurka, Scene, Fanfare | | Label | Cala D'hort De | | All Time Sales Rank | 7704  | | CD Universe Part number | 7102759 | | Catalog number | 543 | | Discs | 1 | | Release Date | Jun 13, 2006 |
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake Highlights / Stokowski, NBC So Music Review Average Rating: (5 out of 5 stars)   So this is how good the NBC were! This is a fantastic discovery! Forget the fillers, which are fine and a bit of a novelty it’s the Swan Lake you need to hear. There is over 50 minutes of the score here conducted and played with enormous passion, style and virtuosity at tempos, admittedly, not conducive to dancing, but taken at big, bold symphonic tempi. It’s such a pity the stereo tapes were lost but even so the sound has been very well re-mastered and it’s a chance to hear Toscanini’s old hand-picked orchestra well recorded and not sounding as if they are in a phone booth covered by a blanket as in the Italian maestro’s RCA recordings.
Here, we can really hear what a fabulous orchestra they were with a magnificent string section, expressive and individual woodwind tone and trenchant, burnished brass.
It all had to come to an end of course and after Toscanini’s retirement from the NBC Orchestra in 1954 it was financially impossible to keep this stunningly fine orchestra together despite efforts to record them under the likes of Stokowski. They all went their separate ways after 1955 and other American orchestras reaped the benefits of these players joining their ranks.
Stokowski doesn’t muck around with the music, as he had a tendency to do and treats Tchaikovsky’s superb orchestrations with respect. He gives us a real sense of theatre and although some sections are relentlessly hard driven there is always musicality and a swaggering style with impeccable attention to rhythms and detail. I don’t think you would expect to hear this music conducted or played this way today as it would be much more polite and smoothed over by today’s batch of largely characterless conductors.
Certainly the orchestral timbre has changed nowadays and orchestras don’t give us the gritty, earthy qualities you hear on this disc. I might add that the playing is never coarse but has these above mentioned qualities within a framework of sophisticated tone, power and balance.
Cala records are doing a great job in reviving many lost Stokowski recordings from the 50’s well before he embarked on his final sessions in London for Decca in the 60’s which due his advanced age were interesting but patchy.
I urge you to hear this long missing gem and even if you have a number of suites or complete versions of this marvellous score this one is different.
Submitted by john (Sydney Australia)  Was This Review Helpful? Yes No
| Have you heard this album? |  |
Purchase Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake Highlights / Stokowski, NBC So CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | Original Masters - Leonard Bernstein: 1953 Recordings CDs (2005) Box Set
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake Highlights / Stokowski, NBC So
$22.69 5cds-Beethoven,Schumann,Brahms ,Tchaikovsky,Dvorak
| | Original Masters - George Szell CDs (2005) Box Set
$57.09 | | Bach Brahms/Schoenberg: Piano Quartet In G Minor, Etc / Craft CD (2006)
$8.49 | | Gunsmoke - The Complete First Season DVDs (1955) Full Frame
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake Highlights / Stokowski, NBC So
$31.29 James Arness vaulted into the annals of television history with his iconic portrayal of U.S. Marshall Matt Dillon in the long-running television Western GUNSMOKE. Armed with a quick draw ...
| | Danielle Steel's Safe Harbour DVD (2007)
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake Highlights / Stokowski, NBC So
$8.79
|  | | Also Bought |
| Leopold Stokowski & His Orchestra Mussorgsky, Borodin, Glière, Etc / Stokowski, Et Al CD (2007)
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake Highlights / Stokowski, NBC So
$14.75
| | Antonina Nezhdanova Prima Voce - Nezhdanova In Opera & Song CD (2002)
$9.59 | | Mechanical Music Hall CD (2006) (Import) Import; Reissued
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake Highlights / Stokowski, NBC So
$17.45
| | BBC Concert Orchestra Opera Without Words - Aida, Tosca, Lakmé, Carmen, Etc CD (2002)
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake Highlights / Stokowski, NBC So
$9.69
| | Maggie Cole Harpsichord Recital At Dyrham Park CD (2003) (Import)
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake Highlights / Stokowski, NBC So
$11.79
| | Donna Deam Piangete - Cantatas & Motets By Giacomo Carissimi CD (2003)
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake Highlights / Stokowski, NBC So
$15.49
| | Renata Scotto Puccini: Madama Butterfly / Basile, Scotto, Mattiucci, Et Al CDs (2006)
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake Highlights / Stokowski, NBC So
$20.45 Track Listing of songs: Madama Butterfly: Act I, "...E Sofitto...E Pareti..."; Madama Butterfly: Act I, "Dovunque Al Mondo"; Madama Butterfly: Act I, "Ier L'altro, Il Consolato Sen' Venne a Visitar!"; Madama Butterfly: Act I, "Ecco. Son Giunti Al Sommo Del Pendio"; Madama Butterfly: Act I, Gran Ventura; Madama Butterfly: Act I, "L'imperial Commissario, L'ufficiale Del Registro, I Congiunti"; Madama Butterfly: Act I, "Vieni, Amor Mio!"; Madama Butterfly: Act I, "Ieri Son Salita"; Madama Butterfly: Act I, "Cio-Cio-San! Abbominazione!"; Madama Butterfly: Act I, "Bimba, Bimba Non Piangere"; Madama Butterfly: Act I, "Viene La Sera"; Madama Butterfly: Act I, "Vogliatemi Bene"; Madama Butterfly: Act Ii, "E Izaghi Ed Izanami"; Madama Butterfly: Act Ii, "Un Bel Dì, Vedremo"; Madama Butterfly: Act Ii, "C'è. Entrate"; Madama Butterfly: Act Ii, "Incominciate"; Madama Butterfly: ...
| | Natalie Clein - The Romantic Cello CD (2007)
$12.59 | | Janos Starker Period Classics - János Starker's Legendary Period LPS Vol 1 CDs (2007)
$17.29 |
|
|
|
 |
|

|