Eugene Ormandy: The Complete RCA Album Collection / Minneapolis Symphony

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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:


  • Release Date: August 05, 2022


  • Catalog Number: 19439952392


  • UPC: 194399523926


  • Label: Sony Music Entertainment


  • 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:


  1. Háry János Suite

    Composer: Zoltán Kodály

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  2. Hungarian Caprice

    Composer: Eugene Zádor

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  3. Romanian Rhapsody no. 1

    Composer: George Enescu

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  4. The Bartered Bride

    Composer: Bedřich Smetana

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  5. Irish Washerwoman

    Composer: Leo Sowerby

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  6. Scherzo Capriccioso, op. 66

    Composer: Antonín Dvořák

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  7. 21 Hungarian Dances, WoO 1: nos. 18-21

    Composer: Johannes Brahms

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  8. Symphony no. 4 in D minor

    Composer: Robert Schumann

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  9. Symphony no. 4 in B-flat Major

    Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  10. Leonore Overture no. 3

    Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  11. Verklärte Nacht (version for string orchestra)

    Composer: Arnold Schoenberg

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  12. Concertino for Piano and Orchestra, H. 55

    Composer: Arthur Honegger

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  13. Libesleid

    Composer: Fritz Kreisler

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  14. Schön Rosmarin

    Composer: Fritz Kreisler

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  15. Tambourin Chinois

    Composer: Fritz Kreisler

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  16. Caprice Viennois

    Composer: Fritz Kreisler

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  17. Liebesfreud

    Composer: Fritz Kreisler

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  18. Träumerei

    Composer: Robert Schumann

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  19. La Source Suite

    Composer: Léo Delibes

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  20. Suite from Sylvia

    Composer: Léo Delibes

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  21. The Jewels Of The Madonna: Intermezzi Nos. 1-2

    Composer: Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  22. Suite from Coppélia

    Composer: Léo Delibes

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  23. Funeral March of a Marionette

    Composer: Charles Gounod

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  24. Alborada del Gracioso from Miroirs

    Composer: Maurice Ravel

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  25. Adventures in a Perambulator

    Composer: John Alden Carpenter

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  26. The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan op. 8

    Composer: Charles Tomlinson Griffes

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  27. 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


  28. Chorale and Fugue in D minor op. 4

    Composer: Arnold Zamachson

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  29. When Johnny Comes Marching Home: An American Overture

    Composer: Roy Harris

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  30. Symphony no. 2 in E minor

    Composer: Sergei Rachmaninoff

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  31. Andante cantabile from Quartet no. 1, op. 11

    Composer: Pyotr Ilyich Tcaikovsky

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  32. Symphony no. 2 in C minor "Resurrection"

    Composer: Gustav Mahler

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, Twin City Symphony Chorus

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  33. The Blue Danube Waltz op. 314

    Composer: Johann Strauss II

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  34. Overture to Die Fledermaus

    Composer: Johann Strauss II

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  35. Tales from the Vienna Woods op. 325

    Composer: Johann Strauss II

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  36. Acceleration Waltz op. 234

    Composer: Johann Strauss II

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  37. Overture to Die Zigeunerbaron

    Composer: Johann Strauss II

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  38. Aquarellen Waltz op. 258

    Composer: Josef Strauss

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  39. Countess Ninetta

    Composer: Johann & Josef Strauss

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  40. Air de ballet no. 2: Millions d'Arlequin

    Composer: Riccardo Eugenio Drigo

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  41. Waltzes from Der Rosenkavalier

    Composer: Richard Strauss

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  42. Spielerei: Pizzicato Polka

    Composer: Carl Stix

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  43. Polka and Fugue from Schwanda

    Composer: Jaromír Weinberger

    Performer: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  44. Serenade no. 13, K. 525 "Eine kleine Nachtmusik"

    Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  45. 6 German Dances K. 600

    Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  46. Dance in C Major from 4 German Dances K. 602

    Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  47. 3 German Dances K. 605

    Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  48. Overture to Le nozze di Figaro

    Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  49. Moto perpetuo op. 11 (version for orchestra)

    Composer: Niccolò Paganini

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  50. Herzlich tut mich verlangen, BWV 727

    Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  51. Symphony no. 7

    Composer: Anton Bruckner

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy


  52. Symphony no. 1

    Composer: Jean Sibelius

    Ensemble: Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Eugene Ormandy