Eugene Ormandy: The Complete RCA Album Collection / Minneapolis Symphony
Eugene Ormandy’s name is inseparably linked with Philadelphia and the orchestra he directed there for over 40 years. But before the advent of Ormandy/Philadelphia, there was another historic partnership: Ormandy/Minneapolis.
By a series of coincidences, indispositions, and opportunities, he found himself with the Minneapolis Symphony between 17–23 January 1934 and 5–16 January 1935 at Northrop Auditorium on the University of Minnesota campus. These long, intensive daily sessions yielded a bumper crop of recordings, encompassing a wide and adventurous repertoire which filled no fewer than 174 78-rpm sides.
“Ormandy was perhaps at his best during his Minneapolis days and in the early part of his long reign at Philadelphia”, wrote a Gramophone critic in 1991, and many have shared that opinion. Sony Classical is pleased to present the complete Ormandy/Minneapolis discography for the first time in a single collection. Many of these performances were never issued on LP, let alone CD.
The 11-disc set contains major symphonic works. The pioneering 1935 version of Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony dominated the record catalogues for nearly two decades, and it remains thrilling today. Ormandy and the Minneapolis SO were the first in the US to commit to disc Rachmaninoff’s Second (“Fervently played and grandly recorded” – Gramophone, 1936) and Sibelius’s First (“Mr. Ormandy seems to be squeezing every ounce of emotion out of it, and lovers of opulence will rejoice” – Gramophone, 1936), while their Bruckner Seventh was the first commercial American recording of any of that composer’s symphonies.
The new box set also contains the recording world premières of Kodály’s Háry János Suite, the string-orchestra version of Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht and Honegger’s Concertino for piano and orchestra, as well as American works such as Roy Harris’s When Johnny Comes Marching Home and John Alden Carpenter’s Adventures in a Perambulator. The electrifying performance of Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsody No. 1, an Ormandy showpiece, was the first one of that work to reach a worldwide audience, while the selections from Weinberger’s Schwanda – Ormandy’s ticket to fame – also made their recording début in Minneapolis.
The conductor’s only recording of Schumann’s Fourth Symphony is here, as is his first recording of Beethoven’s Fourth, plus Hungarian Dances by Brahms, dances and overtures by the Strauss family, Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik, excerpts from Smetana’s Bartered Bride, British folksong arrangements by Percy Grainger, and much more.
REVIEW:
For those only familiar with Ormandy from his late RCA stereo recordings, this set will be a revelation. At this point in his career his idol was Toscanini, and the performances in this set feature fast tempos and lean textures.
-- Fanfare
Of the larger-scale works included, Sibelius’s First is impressive, a marginally swifter reading than two subsequent Ormandy recordings with the Philadelphia Orchestra... Bruckner’s Seventh harbours many wonderful moments, such as the sunny reprise of the symphony’s opening theme (with its rising trumpet overlay), and the Adagio’s second main idea, which is as beautifully drawn as most you’re likely to hear (portamento curlicues add expressive sustenance). As a matter of interest, the Adagio’s overall tempo is broader than Furtwängler’s and Klemperer’s by around three minutes. Ormandy includes the cymbal clash.
Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht is played for all its considerable emotional worth yet without sentimentality...Ormandy summons just the right level of intensity. This disc is filled with a well-engineered and brilliantly played seven minutes’ worth of Leonore No 3, a first release.
Unique to RCA (so far) are crisply dispatched Strauss family favourites, stylishly turned Rosenkavalier Waltzes, and the usual suspects by Delibes, Wolf-Ferrari, Gounod, Smetana, Drigo, Brahms, Paganini, Ravel and Tchaikovsky, as well as less familiar works by Roy Harris, Arnold Zemachson and JS Bach.
It’s a rewarding, enjoyable set that highlights the differences between an energetic new kid on the block and an older Ormandy who tended to luxuriate among the warmly cushioned tones of the Philadelphia Orchestra, though rarely without his signature musical intelligence.
-- Gramophone
Product Description:
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Release Date: August 05, 2022
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Catalog Number: 19439952392
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UPC: 194399523926
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Label: Sony Music Entertainment
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Number of Discs: 11
Composer: Zoltán Kodály, Eugene Zádor, George Enescu, Bedřich Smetana, Leo Sowerby, Antonín Dvořák, Johannes Brahms, Robert Schumann, Ludwig van Beethoven, Arnold Schoenberg, Arthur Honegger, Fritz Kreisler, Leo Delibes, Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Charles Gounod, Maurice Ravel, John Aldis Carpenter, Charles Tomlinson Griffes, Percy Grainger, Arnold Zemachson, Trad., Sergei Rachmaninoff, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Gustav Mahler, Johann Strauss II, Jaromír Weinberger, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Niccolò Paganini, Johann Sebastian Bach, Anton Bruckner, Jean Sibelius
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, Twin City Symphony Chorus
Performer: Corinne Frank Bowen, Anne O'Malley Gallogly, Eunice Norton, Harold Ayres
Works:
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Háry János Suite
Composer: Zoltán Kodály
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Hungarian Caprice
Composer: Eugene Zádor
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Romanian Rhapsody no. 1
Composer: George Enescu
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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The Bartered Bride
Composer: Bedřich Smetana
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Irish Washerwoman
Composer: Leo Sowerby
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Scherzo Capriccioso, op. 66
Composer: Antonín Dvořák
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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21 Hungarian Dances, WoO 1: nos. 18-21
Composer: Johannes Brahms
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Symphony no. 4 in D minor
Composer: Robert Schumann
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Symphony no. 4 in B-flat Major
Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Leonore Overture no. 3
Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Verklärte Nacht (version for string orchestra)
Composer: Arnold Schoenberg
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Concertino for Piano and Orchestra, H. 55
Composer: Arthur Honegger
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Libesleid
Composer: Fritz Kreisler
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Schön Rosmarin
Composer: Fritz Kreisler
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Tambourin Chinois
Composer: Fritz Kreisler
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Caprice Viennois
Composer: Fritz Kreisler
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Liebesfreud
Composer: Fritz Kreisler
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Träumerei
Composer: Robert Schumann
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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La Source Suite
Composer: Léo Delibes
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Suite from Sylvia
Composer: Léo Delibes
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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The Jewels Of The Madonna: Intermezzi Nos. 1-2
Composer: Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Suite from Coppélia
Composer: Léo Delibes
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Funeral March of a Marionette
Composer: Charles Gounod
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Alborada del Gracioso from Miroirs
Composer: Maurice Ravel
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Adventures in a Perambulator
Composer: John Alden Carpenter
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan op. 8
Composer: Charles Tomlinson Griffes
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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British Folk-Music Settings: Shepherd's Hey, Country Gardens, Londonderry Air, Molly on the Shore
Composer: Percy Grainger (arranger)
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Chorale and Fugue in D minor op. 4
Composer: Arnold Zamachson
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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When Johnny Comes Marching Home: An American Overture
Composer: Roy Harris
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Symphony no. 2 in E minor
Composer: Sergei Rachmaninoff
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Andante cantabile from Quartet no. 1, op. 11
Composer: Pyotr Ilyich Tcaikovsky
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Symphony no. 2 in C minor "Resurrection"
Composer: Gustav Mahler
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, Twin City Symphony Chorus
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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The Blue Danube Waltz op. 314
Composer: Johann Strauss II
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Overture to Die Fledermaus
Composer: Johann Strauss II
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Tales from the Vienna Woods op. 325
Composer: Johann Strauss II
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Acceleration Waltz op. 234
Composer: Johann Strauss II
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Overture to Die Zigeunerbaron
Composer: Johann Strauss II
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Aquarellen Waltz op. 258
Composer: Josef Strauss
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Countess Ninetta
Composer: Johann & Josef Strauss
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Air de ballet no. 2: Millions d'Arlequin
Composer: Riccardo Eugenio Drigo
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Waltzes from Der Rosenkavalier
Composer: Richard Strauss
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Spielerei: Pizzicato Polka
Composer: Carl Stix
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Polka and Fugue from Schwanda
Composer: Jaromír Weinberger
Performer: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Serenade no. 13, K. 525 "Eine kleine Nachtmusik"
Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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6 German Dances K. 600
Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Dance in C Major from 4 German Dances K. 602
Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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3 German Dances K. 605
Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Overture to Le nozze di Figaro
Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Moto perpetuo op. 11 (version for orchestra)
Composer: Niccolò Paganini
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Herzlich tut mich verlangen, BWV 727
Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Symphony no. 7
Composer: Anton Bruckner
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
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Symphony no. 1
Composer: Jean Sibelius
Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Eugene Ormandy