MONTSERRAT CABALLE - CASTA DIV

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

TCHAIKOVSKY Manfred Symphony • Eugene Ormandy; Philadelphia O; • RCA-ArkivMusic 38291 (58:23)

Although Ormandy conducted and recorded a great deal of Tchaikovsky, Manfred is a work that I believe was new to his repertoire when he made this recording the day after a performance early in the 1976–77 subscription concert season. As with so many of the RCA recordings, the tempos are slower than average, but this heavy-hearted work (the first movement is marked Lento lugubre) can stand slow tempos. There are also some interpretive liberties in the final movement that one could live without. The other side of the coin is that the orchestra plays this most difficult of Tchaikovsky’s works effortlessly; the swirling woodwind figures in the second movement, for example, are preternaturally accurate. I wouldn’t want this as my only Manfred, but I know I will return to it, along with the Markevitch on Philips.

FANFARE: Richard A. Kaplan

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

"The Concerto for Orchestra was an Ormandy specialty. He was Hungarian-born, of course, and had long been an advocate for Bartók’s music, for example, conducting the world premiere of the Third Piano Concerto with soloist György Sándor, and its first recording, both in 1946. This is his third and last recording of the Concerto for Orchestra, in fine early digital (1979) sound. It was also the final work on the last concert he ever conducted, in January 1984. While overall it is a notch less energetic than the 1963 version on Sony, it is expansive, assured, and effortless-sounding. The solo winds are superb, and the brass chorale in the “Game of Pairs” second movement is gorgeous."

-- Richard A. Kaplan, Fanfare [5/2010]

"...[W]ith his fingers of steel Alexis Weissenberg gives a powerful performance... this disc can certainly be recommended." -- Gramophone [2/1971, reviewing the original LP release of the 2nd Concerto]

"No doubts here about the quality of the orchestral playing which is of a high order... [A] well-prepared and finely disciplined account." -- Gramophone [7/1980, reviewing the original LP release of the Concerto for Orchestra]

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

The shimmering, romantically lush sound of the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy is perfectly suited to these large scale, epic works. For many listeners, these performances from the 1970s were their introductions to Rachmaninov's inspiring and heroic Symphony No. 2 as well as Scriabin's hyper-romantic, alluring Poem of Ecstasy. - Greg La Traille, ArkivMusic.com

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

Recorded 1956-1966.

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***

*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***