Stokowski Transcriptions
Marjana Lipovšek (mezzo-soprano)
The Philadelphia Orchestra/Wolfgang Sawallisch
rec. 1995, Giandomenico Studios, Collingwood, USA
Reviewed as EMI Classics 5555922
Warner Classics 9029545369 [66]
I recently attended a hugely entertaining concert by the CBSO in Birmingham, the first half of which consisted entirely of orchestral transcriptions by Leopold Stokowski, among them La cathédrale engloutie, also on this anthology. They are masterpieces of colour and texture, wholly respectful of their original scores yet giving them renewed life and impact.
You may of course hear the arranger/conductor’s own analogue recordings of the Bach items with the LSO and others with the Philadelphia and various other orchestras, but some of those are in vintage or even historical sound, so the advantage of this issue is hearing that same great orchestra led by another first-rate conductor digitally recorded. Sawallisch in no sense underplays or diminishes the lush grandeur of these pieces, as that would wholly negate their raison d’être.
The four Bach arrangements here are among the most famous. They are, of course, as far removed from “authenticity” as it is possible to be, but one might remember that Stokowski started making these transcriptions pre-WW1 and continued over the years until he had done over fifty; the last, the noble “Wachet auf”, was made in 1940, and they introduced Bach to many when he was still relatively unknown and unplayed. As a trained organist, Stokowski knew about colour, texture and registration and the variety on show here is highly satisfying. Most celebrated of all, greatly due to Disney’s Fantasia (1940), is the Toccata and Fugue in D minor (1927); in a sense, it is a completely new work, in that divided strings, massive block harmonies by the brass, extreme dynamic range, trilling woodwind, vibrato, portamento – all the Romantic tricks – are employed and it is a riot – but Bach’s genius emerges intact and, some might even say, enhanced.
It is quite a leap to the stately, delicate charms of the Boccherini minuet and our modern ears used to hearing the “Moonlight Sonata” only on the piano for which it was written might momentarily be shocked by the almost blasphemously glutinous arrangement here but it’s certainly…different… Chopin’s Prelude in E minor fares rather better, I think, as its yearning melancholy transfers better to swooning strings, and Franck’s sentimental Panis angelicus also comes off well. Tchaikovsky’s gift for lilting melody is especially well served in the two numbers here, the Andante cantabile from his first string quartet – itself in turn a derivation from a folk song the composer loved and thus hardly an illicit transformation – and the waltz romance “At the Ball” set to a poem by Tolstoy and idiomatically sung by Marjana Lipovšek. Stokowski’s light touch ensures that the orchestra blends with, rather than overwhelms, her large mezzo-soprano.
There ensue two Debussy pieces, both of which are well-known in both their original form and Stokowski’s treatment of them. I would still always prefer the simplicity of the original piano version of Clair de lune – the third movement of Suite bergamasque – but particularly admire Stokowski’s use of the harp and percussion, and the spareness of his arrangement. Rob Cowan in his notes describes the orchestration of La cathédrale engloutie as “possibly the most arresting of all” and it was certainly the one which made the greatest impact on the audience and me in the live concert I attended; it is masterfully effected and extremely well played here, the highlight of the collection.
It concludes with a suitably imposing, really large-scale version of Rachmaninov’s Prelude in C sharp minor – brooding and menacing, with constant tremolo strings underpinned by deep, dark brass and timpani – great stuff.
The thing is you have to enjoy this for what it is, not complain about what it is not, nor was ever meant to be.
Ralph Moore
Contents
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
1. “Sheep May Safely Graze” from Cantata BWV 208
2. Chorale “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme” (from Cantata BWV140)
3. “Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott” Chorale (from Cantata BWV 80)
4. Toccata and Fugue in D minor BWV 565
Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805)
5. String Quintet No 1 in E opus 11 no 5 G 275 – 3rd mvmt Minuetto
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
6. Sonata for Piano no 14 in C sharp minor, Op. 27 no 2 “Moonlight”: 1st movement, Adagio sostenuto
Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
7. Preludes (24) for Piano, Op. 28: no 4 in E minor
César Franck (1822-1890)
8. Panis Angelicus
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
9. Andante cantabile, Quartet for Strings no 1 in D major, Op. 11
10. Songs (6), Op. 38: no 3, “At the Ball”
Marjana Lipovšek (mezzo-soprano)
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
11. Suite bergamasque: 3rd movement, Clair de Lune
12. Préludes, Book 1: no 10, La cathédrale engloutie
Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943)
13. Morceaux de fantaisies (5), Op. 3: no 2, Prélude in C sharp minor
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