Frederick Stock (conductor)
Chicago Symphony – Volume 2
rec. 1925, Webster Hotel Ballroom; 1926/29 Orchestra Hall; 1927/28, Goodman Theatre, Chicago
Pristine Audio PASC684 [77+77]
I was very impressed by the first release in this series of Frederick Stock’s early acoustic recordings for Victor with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (review).
Stock (1872-1942) was an important conductor during the pre-war period in the United States, building the Chicago Symphony Orchestra into a world-class ensemble distinguished for its precision and unique orchestral sound. During the 37 years he was in charge, he commissioned many works from composers of different styles, among whom were Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Myaskovsky, Holst, Kodály, Suk, Walton, Enescu, Arthur Benjamin, and he premiered Florence Price’s First Symphony, the first symphony by an Afro-American composer to be performed by a leading US orchestra.
Stock embraced a repertoire from Bach to Stravinsky and recorded exclusively with the Chicago Symphony, first in 1916 for Victor of his arrangements of America and the Star-spangled Banner – the first known orchestral recording in the US and issued on volume one in this series. He also recorded with Columbia pieces by Elgar, Toch, Glière, Ippolitov-Ivanov, Walton and Enesco, and more popular repertoire. he frequently travelled to Europe between the two world wars to discover new music – and to mark the orchestra’s 50th anniversary, he asked the Soviet composer Myaskovsky to write his 21st Symphony and commissioned Stravinsky’s Symphony in C.
Rather than follow the trend of flamboyance or sensationalism, Stock was an unswerving interpreter who searched for beauty in expression, which is perhaps why he is not remembered in the manner of contemporaries such as Stokowski and Toscanini. For largely commercial reasons, he was ignored by record companies in the post-war era as stereo emerged and a new wave of conductors forged a reputation for outstanding musical performance, impeccably recorded, yet his legacy is an important one.
Of consequence in this release are his interpretations of symphonies by Schumann and Tchaikovsky. Stock’s reading of the ‘Spring’ Symphony is expressive and brings out all the early Romanticism of this work, with especially fine playing by the brass group. The first movement, Andante con variazioni, is noble and majestically performed, and the recording allows one to sample the glorious brass of the Chicago Symphony, while in the Scherzo, there is a dynamic momentum, and in the finale, Allegro animato e grazioso, a refreshingly life-enhancing energy is dominant. The remastering of this recording made at the smaller venue of the Goodman Theatre is remarkably clear. That venue offered an improved acoustic, better than the more reverberant sound picture of Symphony Hall where the 1926 recordings were set down. The Schumann symphony is the only recording officially issued on CD by RCA, yet it was flawed by a poor transfer which has now been transformed by this XR remastering.
The Tchaikovsky Fifth is also remarkable: idiosyncratic and fast-paced, especially in the first movement, Andante – Allegro con anima, where Stock takes a caesura which he makes seem quite justified. He makes it even more exciting and also makes another cut in the second movement, Andante cantabile, con alcuna licenza, and in the finale Andante maestoso – Allegro vivace, imparts an intensity which has one on the edge of one’s seat; the culmination is powerful and impressive. Notable throughout is the virtuosity of the strings, the magnificent woodwind and the richly harmonious brass group. Stock reveals his affinity with Romantic Russian music and his recording may be compared positively with Mengelberg’s of the same decade.
One would wish to hear more of Stock’s recordings of Russian music; sadly, he did not record anything by Myaskovsky or Shostakovich (notably, Stock opened every season in Chicago with Myaskovsky’s Sixth Symphony). The Glinka overture reminded me of Mravinsky’s storming recording with his Leningrad Philharmonic both for its magnificent virtuosity and dazzling pace – amazingly clear for a recording from almost a century ago.
We have the premiere recording of the Intermezzo from Suk’s Fairy Tale Suite, with two different recordings a year apart, and Bach’s Second Orchestral Suite is especially distinguished for the beautiful flute playing from Ernest Liegl – throughout Stock adopts faster tempi, and deviates from the imposing readings of Mengelberg and Stokowski of the time. The second disc opens with the premiere recording of the F-sharp Suite by Dohnanyi – a composer too often ignored in contemporary concert programmes. Here, Stock elicits all the bright harmonies and invention of the Hungarian composer often finding affinities with Brahms. The four movements are captured splendidly in an expertly remastered recording.
The beautifully performed arrangement by Theodore Thomas of ‘Dreams’ from Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder is another highlight and reprises the glorious passion of Tristan und Isolde, while the pieces by Johannes Strauss II, Glazounov and Smetana are similar in mood and style all impressively played and truthfully recorded. The two discs are contained in Pristine Audio’s now standard digipack with enlightening notes by Mark Obert-Thorn who has produced these forgotten recordings in state-of-the-art remasters. To summarise, this is a memorable release which reveals the mastery of this forgotten conductor whose work can be recognised now at the same level as Koussevitzky, Mengelberg, and Furtwängler.
Gregor Tassie
Availability: Pristine Classical
Contents
CD 1
J.S. Bach (1685-1750) Suite No. 2 in B minor, BWV 1067 (1739) rec. December 1928 [17]
Josef Suk (1874-1935) Intermezzo: Playing at Swans and Peacocks (No. 2 from Fairy Tale Suite, Op. 16) (1897), first recording, rec. December 1928 [3:37]
Josef Suk (1874-1935) Intermezzo: Playing at Swans and Peacocks (No. 2 from Fairy Tale Suite, Op. 16), second recording, rec. December 1928 [3:43]
Antonin Dvořák (1841-1904) Slavonic Dance No. 8 in G minor, Op. 46 (1878), rec. December 1928 [4:06]
Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64 (1888), rec. December 1927 [43]
Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857) Ruslan and Ludmilla – Overture (1842), rec December 1928 [4:45]
CD 2
Ernö Dohnányi (1877-1960) Suite in F sharp minor, Op. 19 (1909), rec. December 1928, [25]
Alexander Glazounov (1865-1936) Pas d’action (from Scenes de ballet, Op. 52), (1894), rec. December 1928 [4:30]
Richard Wagner (1813-1883) (arr. T. Thomas) Träume (No. 5 from Wesendönck Leider), (1858), rec. December 1928, [4:17]
Johannes Strauss II (1825-1899) Du und du (Waltzes from Die Fledermaus), (1873), rec. December 1929, [6:17]
Bedřich Smetana (1824-1884)The Bartered Bride – overture, (1866), rec. December 1929, [6:40]
Robert Schumann (1810-1856) Symphony No. 1 in B flat major, Op. 38, ‘Spring’ (1841), rec. December 1929, [29]
