M. Mussorgsky; I. Stravinsky; A. Scriabin - Orchestral Works (Leopold Stokowski)

Information

Composer: Modest Mussorgsky; Igor Stravinsky; Alexander Scriabin

• (01-08) Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition (orch. Stokowski)
• (09) Scriabin - Le Poème de l'extase, Op. 54
• (10) Stravinsky - Pastorale
• (11-16) Stravinsky - L'Oiseau de feu, ballet suite

New Philharmonia Orchestra (1-8, 11-16)
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra (9)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (10)
Leopold Stokowski, conductor

Date: 1965 (1-8), 1967 (11-16), 1969 (10), 1972 (9)
Label: Decca

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Review

PERFORMANCE: ***** / SOUND: *****

Launched in 1962, Decca’s spatial, multi-channel Phase 4 Stereo did for classical pop and big band what Phil Spector’s ‘wall of sound’ did for rock. You either loved or hated it. Reverberantly spectacular, it was ideally suited to the Stokowski style. These late recordings (he was over ninety at the time of the Scriabin concert in Prague – very Eastern European trumpets) remain stunning, with a Firebird of vibrant personality and attack, and a quite brilliantly outrageous Hollywood abbreviation of Pictures (dating from 1939, the year of Stokowski’s work on Disney’s Fantasia). OTT ‘big screen’ indulgence maybe – but undeniably impressive.

-- Ates Orga, BBC Music Magazine

More reviews:
http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/l/lon43898a.php
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000004264

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Modest Mussorgsky (21 March [O.S. 9 March] 1839 – 28 March [O.S. 16 March] 1881) was a Russian composer, one of the group known as The Five. He was an innovator of Russian music in the romantic period, striving to achieve a uniquely Russian musical identity, often in deliberate defiance of the established conventions of Western music. Many of his works were inspired by Russian history, Russian folklore, and other nationalist themes. For many years Mussorgsky's works were mainly known in versions revised or completed by other composers, but some of the original scores are now also available.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modest_Mussorgsky

***

Igor Stravinsky (17 June [O.S. 5 June] 1882 – 6 April 1971) was a Russian-born composer, pianist, and conductor. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the 20th century. Stravinsky's compositional career was notable for its stylistic diversity. He first achieved international fame with three ballets commissioned and first performed in Paris by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes: The Firebird (1910), Petrushka (1911) and the Rite of Spring (1913). Stravinsky's output is typically divided into three general style periods: a Russian period, a neoclassical period, and a serial period.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Stravinsky

***

Alexander Scriabin (6 January 1872 [O.S. 25 December 1871] – 27 April [O.S. 14 April] 1915) was a Russian composer and pianist. Scriabin was one of the most innovative and most controversial of early modern composers, and is considered by some to be the main Russian Symbolist composer. Independently of Arnold Schoenberg, Scriabin developed a substantially atonal and much more dissonant musical system. He was influenced by synesthesia, and associated colours with the various harmonic tones of his atonal scale. Scriabin had a major impact on the music world, and influenced composers such as Stravinsky and Prokofiev.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Scriabin

***

Leopold Stokowski (18 April 1882 – 13 September 1977) was a British conductor of Polish and Irish descent. One of the leading conductors of the early and mid-20th Century, he is best known for his long association with the Philadelphia Orchestra and for appearing in the film Fantasia. He was especially noted for his free-hand conducting style that spurned the traditional baton and for obtaining a characteristically sumptuous sound from the orchestras he directed. Stokowski made his official conducting debut in 1909 and continued making recordings until June 1977, a few months before his death at the age of 95.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_Stokowski

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLAC, tracks

Links in comment

Enjoy!