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SOMM Recordings

Frankly Speaking with Leopold Stokowski

$18.99

Details

Composer
Hector Berlioz, Manuel de Falla
Artist
Gloria Lane, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Hugh Maguire, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
Format
CD
Label
SOMM Recordings
Released
Feb 21, 2025
Catalog #
ARIADNE 5035
UPC
758871503525

About

SOMM recordings is delighted to release Frankly Speaking with Leopold Stokowski, which gives rare insight into the legendary maestro through live recordings of a performance, a rehearsal, and an interview. The CD features Stokowski conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra and soprano Gloria Lane in a performance of El amor brujo by Manuel de Falla at the Royal Albert Hall on 15 September 1964; a rehearsal of El amor brujo and Berlioz's Roman Carnival Overture with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra at the War Memorial Opera House on 19 December 1952; and a Frankly Speaking BBC Home Service interview with Stokowski answering questions put to him by John Bowen, Reginald Jacques, and George Scott at the BBC Studios in London on 25 August 1959. Leopold Stokowski's unorthodox seating arrangements, his flexibility regarding free individual string bowings, his emphasis on vibrato and tone, and his idiosyncratic baton-less conducting technique, were some of the practical elements that defined his popularity and his uniquely lush sound-coupled with allowing himself free reign to alter details of the musical text in his performances. Yet there remains a highly elusive element in the art of a great conductor. The rehearsal presented on this release provides a glimpse into Stokowski's creative process. One the one hand, he was fastidiously detailed and precisely demanding to the point of being draconian, but he also admired and encouraged an element of spontaneity, and even improvisation, within the framework of his extreme insistence on precision. The performance of El amor brujo-one of Stokowski's favourite compositions-was recorded at a BBC Promenade concert, and provides a stellar example of the effect that he was able to achieve through his singular and charismatic approach to making music. The extended interview, heard here for the first time since it's original radio broadcast in 1959, illustrates the brilliant repartee, levity, and charm of which this extraordinary musician was capable. Through the breadth of his public success-including his appearance in the film Fantasia and, even more significantly, his recordings as the Music Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, which he led from 1912 to 1936-Leopold Stokowski reached a more wide-ranging audience than was typical for classical music in his day, and did much to debunk the perception that classical music is "elitist." Together, Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra racked up international sales figures that were unprecedented for orchestral discs, attracted a far-reaching following, and captivated an audience that ranged from classical music newcomers to some of his most celebrated fellow musicians.

Tracklist 16 tracks

  1. 1 Introducción y escena (Introduction and First Scene) 00:33
    Track
    1
    Title
    Introducción y escena (Introduction and First Scene)
    Duration
    00:33
    Composer
    Manuel de Falla
    Ensemble
    BBC Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Leopold Stokowski
  2. 2 En la Cueva (La Noche) 01:57
    Track
    2
    Title
    En la Cueva (La Noche)
    Duration
    01:57
    Composer
    Manuel de Falla
    Ensemble
    BBC Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Leopold Stokowski
  3. 3 Canción del amor dolido (Song of a Broken Heart) 01:49
    Track
    3
    Title
    Canción del amor dolido (Song of a Broken Heart)
    Duration
    01:49
    Composer
    Manuel de Falla
    Performer
    Gloria Lane
    Ensemble
    BBC Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Leopold Stokowski
  4. 4 El aparecido 00:10
    Track
    4
    Title
    El aparecido
    Duration
    00:10
    Composer
    Manuel de Falla
    Ensemble
    BBC Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Leopold Stokowski
  5. 5 Danza del fuego fatuo: Danza del terror (Dance of the Will-o'-the-Wisp: Dance of Terror) 01:45
    Track
    5
    Title
    Danza del fuego fatuo: Danza del terror (Dance of the Will-o'-the-Wisp: Dance of Terror)
    Duration
    01:45
    Composer
    Manuel de Falla
    Ensemble
    BBC Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Leopold Stokowski
  6. 6 El Circulo Magico (Romance del Pescador) 02:12
    Track
    6
    Title
    El Circulo Magico (Romance del Pescador)
    Duration
    02:12
    Composer
    Manuel de Falla
    Ensemble
    BBC Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Leopold Stokowski
  7. 7 A Media noche (Los sortilegios) 00:24
    Track
    7
    Title
    A Media noche (Los sortilegios)
    Duration
    00:24
    Composer
    Manuel de Falla
    Ensemble
    BBC Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Leopold Stokowski
  8. 8 Danza ritual del Fuego 03:05
    Track
    8
    Title
    Danza ritual del Fuego
    Duration
    03:05
    Composer
    Manuel de Falla
    Ensemble
    BBC Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Leopold Stokowski
  9. 9 Escena 01:33
    Track
    9
    Title
    Escena
    Duration
    01:33
    Composer
    Manuel de Falla
    Ensemble
    BBC Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Leopold Stokowski
  10. 10 Canción del fuego fatuo (Song of the Will-o'-the-Wisp) 01:43
    Track
    10
    Title
    Canción del fuego fatuo (Song of the Will-o'-the-Wisp)
    Duration
    01:43
    Composer
    Manuel de Falla
    Performer
    Gloria Lane
    Ensemble
    BBC Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Leopold Stokowski
  11. 11 Pantomima (Pantomime) 04:31
    Track
    11
    Title
    Pantomima (Pantomime)
    Duration
    04:31
    Composer
    Manuel de Falla
    Ensemble
    BBC Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Leopold Stokowski
  12. 12 Danza del juego de amor 02:33
    Track
    12
    Title
    Danza del juego de amor
    Duration
    02:33
    Composer
    Manuel de Falla
    Performer
    Gloria Lane
    Ensemble
    BBC Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Leopold Stokowski
  13. 13 Final: Las campanas de amanecer (Finale: The Bells of Morning) 01:42
    Track
    13
    Title
    Final: Las campanas de amanecer (Finale: The Bells of Morning)
    Duration
    01:42
    Composer
    Manuel de Falla
    Ensemble
    BBC Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Leopold Stokowski
  14. 14 El amor brujo (Love, the Magician) (1924 version) (rehearsal take) 13:01
    Track
    14
    Title
    El amor brujo (Love, the Magician) (1924 version) (rehearsal take)
    Duration
    13:01
    Composer
    Manuel de Falla
    Ensemble
    San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Leopold Stokowski
  15. 15 Le carnaval romain (Roman Carnaval), Op. 9 (rehearsal take) 08:53
    Track
    15
    Title
    Le carnaval romain (Roman Carnaval), Op. 9 (rehearsal take)
    Duration
    08:53
    Composer
    Hector Berlioz
    Ensemble
    San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Leopold Stokowski
  16. 16 Frankly Speaking with Leopold Stokowski 29:07
    Track
    16
    Title
    Frankly Speaking with Leopold Stokowski
    Duration
    29:07
    Composer
    na Not Applicable
    Performer
    Leopold Stokowski, John Bowen, Reginald Jacques, George Scott