{"product_id":"stokowski-conducts-british-music-at-the-nbc-194344-pasc546","title":"STOKOWSKI conducts British music at the NBC (1943\/44) - PASC546","description":"overviewfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 18px;\"\u003eHOLST \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 18px;\"\u003eThe Planets\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 18px;\"\u003eBUTTERWORTH \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 18px;\"\u003eA Shropshire Lad\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 18px;\"\u003eVAUGHAN WILLIAMS\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 18px;\"\u003e Fantasia on Christmas Carols \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 18px;\"\u003e(Orchestral version)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12px;\"\u003eLive broadcast recordings, 1943\/44\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12px;\"\u003eTotal duration:  71:28 \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003eNBC Symphony Orchestra\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003econducted by\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003e Leopold Stokowski\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9review_titlefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9review_quotefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9review_bodyfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9main_samplefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fsamples\/PASC546.mp3578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_labelfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fProducer's Note578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_typefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fcontent578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_contentfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f\u003ch1 align=\"center\"\u003e\n\u003cfont face=\"Arial\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 18px;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 24px;\"\u003eSTOKOWSKI\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cbr\u003econducts a British Music programme at the NBC\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\n\u003c\/h1\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eBritish-born Leopold Stokowski came into the world in what is now called\nNew Cavendish Street in London, just a block away from the BBC's\nBroadcasting House. He attended St. Marylebone School, just up the road,\nand sang in the choir of the adjoining St. Marylebone Parish Church. It was\nhere, as a 12-year-old choirboy, that he took over the performance of a\nchurch service, perhaps choral evensong, when the regular choirmaster\nfailed to show up. The experience gave him a sleepless night and instilled\nin him an overwhelming desire to become a conductor. He related these early\nconducting ambitions when choosing his 'Desert Island Discs' for the BBC\nradio show of that name in 1957 (it's readily available on YouTube!).\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\nHis musical precocity took him to the Royal College of Music in 1895 where,\nat the age of 13, he was the youngest student at the time to be admitted.\nTwo of his fellow organ students, both a few years older, were Gustav Holst\nand Ralph Vaughan Williams. These two were already firm friends, both\nhaving a strong interest in English folk music. Stokowski's teachers at the\nRCM included Sir Hubert Parry and Sir Charles Villiers Stanford. Needless\nto say Stokowski could not remotely have anticipated that one day he would\nbe performing works by all four of these composers for American audiences.\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\nIn 1902, the young Leopold became the organist at St. James's, Piccadilly.\nHere he attracted the attention of the rector of St. Bartholomew's in New\nYork City. He had come to England to find a new music director for this\nimmensely fashionable church and was so impressed with the colourful\nindividuality of Stokowski's organ playing that he immediately offered him\nthe post of choirmaster.\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\nStokowski duly took up the appointment in 1905 and it was in the USA that\nhe made his career and where in 1915 he became an American citizen. During\nthose early years he spent his summers in Europe studying conducting. As a\nresult, his ambition to become an orchestral conductor was fully realised\nin 1909 when he made his debut in Paris. The Cincinnati Orchestra was\nlooking for a new conductor and their representatives who heard the concert\nwere so impressed by the youthful maestro's \"remarkable qualities\" that he\nwas immediately offered the job.\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\nStokowski's three-year apprenticeship in Cincinnati found him starting as\nhe meant to go on. He studied and learnt the basic repertoire but he also\nincluded much that was being written by living composers. When it came to\nEnglish music, Elgar's made its first appearance in a Stokowski \/\nCincinnati concert with the Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 in 1911.\nLater that year, on 24 November 1911, came one of Stokowski's innumerable\nUS Premieres when he introduced Elgar’s 2nd Symphony to America. The\nCincinnati \u003cem\u003eTimes-Star \u003c\/em\u003ewas unpersuaded of the work’s merits: “The\ncomposition is pleasant and interesting; but it is not great, nor in any\nsense convincing.” Maybe that view still holds good even today, since none\nof the great American orchestras have yet made a commercial studio\nrecording of the work!\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\nIn 1912, Stokowski left Cincinnati for Philadelphia where he conducted\nGustav Holst's music for the first time with a performance of the \u003cem\u003eJapanese Suite \u003c\/em\u003eon 15 October 1925 in yet another US Premiere. He\nreturned to Holst's music in 1934 when, on learning of the composer's\ndeath, he conducted \u003cem\u003eThe\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003ePlanets\u003c\/em\u003e by way of a tribute.\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\nHis next performance of \u003cem\u003eThe Planets\u003c\/em\u003e came about during his\nthree-season appointment as the NBC Symphony's chief conductor following\nToscanini's temporary withdrawal in 1941. The war had its own influence on\nStokowski’s NBC programmes and he often advocated music from the Allied\ncountries. England was duly represented on 14 February 1943 by what the \u003cem\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/em\u003edescribed as “a remarkable performance of Holst’s\ngreat mystical tone-poem\u003cem\u003e.\u003c\/em\u003e” The critic from the daily \u003cem\u003eBrooklyn\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eEagle \u003c\/em\u003eadded that \"Stokowski knew, of course, how\nto show \u003cem\u003eThe Planets\u003c\/em\u003e their orchestral brilliance most graphically,\nwhile the orchestra lent its virtuosity to a good cause.\"\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\nA previous incarnation of this same NBC performance several years ago\nelicited from critic Andrew Achenbach that it was “a \u003cem\u003ePlanets\u003c\/em\u003e\ncrammed full of interpretative incident, superbly played by a legendary\norchestra ... Stokowski’s broadcast evinces a giant theatricality and\nabundant zeal that prove hypnotically compelling.”\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\nStokowski returned to the work in 1956 when he made its first stereo\nrecording in Capitol's 'Full Dimensional Stereo Sound' with the Los Angeles\nPhilharmonic. This reading proved controversial in several ways and was\ngiven short shrift in the \u003cem\u003eGramophone\u003c\/em\u003e by Trevor Harvey who in any\ncase confessed in print that he was no admirer of Stokowski. Even so, the\nLP's total sales, on the original Capitol label together with its Music for\nPleasure reissue, reached nearly half-a-million copies in the UK which\nwasn't bad going!\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\nStokowski's next traversal of \u003cem\u003eThe Planets\u003c\/em\u003e took place in the Royal\nAlbert Hall in 1963 with the London Symphony Orchestra. The programme was\nall-British, with John Addison's \u003cem\u003eCarte Blanche\u003c\/em\u003e Ballet Suite and\nVaughan Williams's \u003cem\u003eTallis Fantasia\u003c\/em\u003e occupying the first half and\nHolst coming after the interval. This time, as was often the case in those\ndays, the critical reactions to a \"live\" Stokowski performance could be\nquite different to the reviews of one of his LPs. For example, one\ncommentator wrote of his LSO performance of \u003cem\u003eThe Planets\u003c\/em\u003e that\n\"Stokowski evoked, with scarcely a vehement gesture, gusts and storms,\nwinged chatter, whimsical heartiness and the mystery of voices dying in\nspace,\" while another described him as \"a marvellous conductor; individual\ncertainly, eccentric even on occasion; but capable of achieving unique,\nexciting and vastly stimulating results.\"\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\nBut to return to the war-time NBC seasons and \u003cem\u003eA Shropshire Lad\u003c\/em\u003e by\nGeorge Butterworth. Doubtless Stokowski had heard Sir Adrian Boult's\nperformance in an all-British NBC broadcast in 1938 and decided to revive\nit himself. Butterworth's idyllic orchestral rhapsody was to prove highly\ninfluential on several British composers but as with the seven performances\non Pristine's \"Wartime NBC Premieres\" release (PASC 536) this was the only\noccasion on which Stokowski conducted the work.\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\nSo to Vaughan Williams. Stokowski was - as with so many living composers at\nthe time - something of an RVW champion as far as American audiences were\nconcerned. He introduced \u003cem\u003eA\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003ePastoral Symphony\u003c\/em\u003e (RVW's 3rd)\nto his fellow Philadelphians in 1924 and followed that with the \u003cem\u003eTallis Fantasia\u003c\/em\u003e two years later. He gave a blazing performance of\nthe 4th Symphony with the NBCSO in 1943 and made the first recording of the\n6th with the New York Philharmonic in 1949. He performed the \u003cem\u003eSinfonia Antartica\u003c\/em\u003e in Houston in 1954 and played No. 8 in London's\nRoyal Festival Hall in 1957 in the delighted composer's presence. The\nfollowing year, on hearing of Vaughan Williams's death, he paid tribute by\nconducting the US Premiere of RVW's last Symphony, his Ninth.\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\nThis leads us to the final work in this NBC selection and something of a\nrarity it is too! The original score of the \u003cem\u003eFantasia on Christmas Carols\u003c\/em\u003e requires a baritone soloist, a choir\nand an accompanying orchestra. However, it was also published in other\nformats, including a version with a string orchestra and organ supplying\nthe accompaniment, or just an organ or a piano on its own.\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\nVaughan Williams's \u003cem\u003eSerenade to Music \u003c\/em\u003ehad also been published in\nseveral formats, the original being for 16 voices and orchestra, though the\nwork can also be performed by orchestra alone. We can only speculate on\nStokowski's decision in the run-up to his Christmas 1943 concert but it\nseems likely that he took his cue from RVW's own orchestral version of the\u003cem\u003eSerenade to Music \u003c\/em\u003eand adopted the same procedure with the \u003cem\u003eCarols Fantasia\u003c\/em\u003e. It therefore seems probable that he asked an NBC\n'house copyist' to cue the vocal parts into the orchestral ones. Thus, for\nexample, the baritone solo at the start is played by a bassoon, while the\nfirst choral entry is taken over by the strings. This orchestral version\nproves an effective alternative to the choral original and one wonders why\nStokowski's idea hasn't been adopted and published, so that other\norchestras can play it in their own Christmas concerts!\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\nTo conclude, when it came to English music, Stokowski probably performed\nmore of it than any of his equally illustrious States-side podium\ncolleagues. In addition to those mentioned above, he played compositions by\nRichard Arnell, Malcolm Arnold, Arnold Bax, Arthur Bliss, Havergal Brian,\nBenjamin Britten, Henry Walford Davies, George Dyson, Edward German,\nKenneth Leighton, Ermest Moeran, Roger Quilter, Alan Rawsthorne, Edmund\nRubbra, Cyril Scott, Arthur Sullivan, Michael Tippett, William Walton and\nDavid Wooldridge. Happily, broadcasts such as the ones presented here have\nsurvived, thus giving us an opportunity to hear Stokowski's \"remarkable\nqualities\" for ourselves!\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eEdward Johnson\n\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_cover_thumbnail1_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_cover_thumbnail2_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_cover_download_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample1_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample2_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample3_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample4_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample5_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample6_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_labelfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fFull Track Listing578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_typefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5ftrack_listing578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_contentfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f\u003cp\u003e1 RADIO Introduction  (0:19)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eHOLST  \u003c\/b\u003eThe Planets\u003c\/span\u003e  Op. 32\u003cbr\u003e2. 1. Mars, the Bringer of War  (6:54)\u003cbr\u003e3. 2. Venus, the Bringer of Peace  (8:50)\u003cbr\u003e4. 3. Mercury, the Winged Messenger  (3:40)\u003cbr\u003e5. 4. Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity  (7:06)\u003cbr\u003e6. 5. Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age  (9:05)\u003cbr\u003e7. 6. Uranus, the Magician  (5:48)\u003cbr\u003e8. 7. Neptune, the Mystic  (10:40)\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e9 \u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eBUTTERWORTH  \u003c\/b\u003eA Shropshire Lad\u003c\/span\u003e  (9:33)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e10. \u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eVAUGHAN WILLIAMS\u003c\/b\u003e  Fantasia on Christmas Carols\u003c\/span\u003e (orchestral version)  (9:33)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNBC Symphony Orchestra\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003econducted by \u003cb\u003eLeopold Stokowski\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eXR remastering by Andrew Rose\u003cbr\u003eCover artwork based on a photograph of Stokowski\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eHOLST The Planets\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBroadcast 14 February 1943\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBUTTERWORTH A Shropshire Lad\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBroadcast 13 February 1944\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eVAUGHAN WILLIAMS Carols Fantasia\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBroadcast 14 December 1943\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLive performances broadcast from Studio 8H, Radio City, New York\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTotal duration:  71:28\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_cover_thumbnail1_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_cover_thumbnail2_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_cover_download_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample1_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample2_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample3_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample4_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample5_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample6_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_labelfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fCover Art578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_typefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fcover_art578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_contentfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_cover_thumbnail1_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fcovers\/thumbs\/PASC546.jpg578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_cover_thumbnail2_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_cover_download_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fcovers\/PASC546.pdf578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_sample1_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_sample2_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_sample3_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_sample4_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_sample5_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_sample6_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f","brand":"Pristine Classical","offers":[{"title":"Ambient Stereo 24-bit FLAC","offer_id":54932341260627,"sku":"rna1789302424692","price":14.66,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Ambient Stereo 16-bit FLAC","offer_id":54932341293395,"sku":"yfh1789302424693","price":9.83,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"320kbps Ambient Stereo MP3","offer_id":54932341326163,"sku":"cln1789302424694","price":6.58,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1068\/1833\/9155\/files\/stokowski-conducts-british-music-at-the-nbc-194344---pasc546_1.jpg?v=1789302432","url":"https:\/\/vendnora.com\/products\/stokowski-conducts-british-music-at-the-nbc-194344-pasc546","provider":"luckagni","version":"1.0","type":"link"}