Stokowski: Bach Transcriptions, Vol. 2

Pay with

About Stokowski: Bach Transcriptions, Vol. 2

Review A Bach odyssey by way of a lonely organ or harpsichord can be a little exhausting sometimes; the unabashedly lush symphonic transcriptions from Leopold Stokowski trade in the old Edsel for a loaded Maserati. Whether it's sacrilege to manipulate "Sleeper's Wake" to sound like a Bruckner slow movement or to transform "Mein Jesu" into an English pastoral is up for debate. Still, piling the pathos onto Bach has made for one of the sexiest records of the year -- Time Out Chicago, Bryant Manning, March 19-25, 2009 I just received the latest CD from Naxos of Bach tranascriptions conducted by Jose Serebrier with the Bouremouth Symphony. From the very opening of the Toccata and Fugue it's clear that this is another excellent CD from Serebrier and the Naxos engineers. The sound first of all is splendid, perhaps even better than on their previous Bach transcriptions disc, with perfect orchestral balance, a realistic soundstage, moderate reverberation and a warm overall acoustic. This serves to make the BSO sound absolutely glorious in the louder tuttis and yet gossamer delicate in the pianissimo playing of say the Boccherini minuet, here realised very lovingly. This disc has several rarely heard items, including a transcription by Matheson with which I was not previously familiar and the adagio from the Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C major, BWV 564 which was recorded, I believe, by Stoki on 78s but not since and is quite beautifully realised here. There are also several non-Bach transcriptions from the "pre-Mozart" era by Purcell, Clarke and Palestrina. Edward Johnson's notes are, as ever, informative and authoritative. This CD is required listening for every Stokowski fan, even if you have the superb CD by Sawallisch and the Philadelphians, you will still want this for it's (better) sonics and the rarely heard transcriptions in modern sound. The playing of the Bouremouth orchestra is absolutely top notch (though I wish the brasses were slightly more incisive when they first enter in Ein Feste Burg - sorry) and they are captured in wonderful sound. Jose Serebrier continues to demonstrate a wonderful affinity for these transcriptions and is setting them down with great care and dedication. His phrasing is aptly "romantic" and the care for balance and textural detail exemplary. -- Stokowski_Fans (Yahoo blog), Edward Johnson, CEO of the Stokowski Society, February 11, 2009 Leopold Stokowski was famous for making and conducting his own orchestral transcriptions of other composers' music. Stokowski died in 1977, but on a new compact disc, his transcriptions live on. St. Paul, Minn. -- Have you noticed that it doesn't matter if Sean Connery is playing a Brit or an Irishman or even a Russian -- all his characters have the same unmistakable Scottish burr? It's not authentic, but it's still charming as heck. Leopold Stokowski has a similar signature. His fingerprint is unmistakable in any of his orchestral transcriptions, whether he's transcribing Boccherini or Bach or William Byrd. This week's CD features Jose Serebrier leading the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in the second volume in a series of Stokowski's transcriptions. Serebrier has had a long relationship with Stokowski, which started when Stokowski conducted the premier of 17-year-old Serebrier's first symphony. He saw and heard firsthand how Stokowski could change the sound of an orchestra instantly, not only by physically rearranging the musicians but also by merely having a certain sound in his inner ear, and expecting -- demanding -- that sound from the orchestra. Serebrier isn't a Stokowski clone, however, and his Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra has its own elegant, polite, even careful vibe. You can hear it in "Sleepers, Awake" by J.S. Bach. It's all about sustaining a long line of music, overlapping and weaving threads of melody and harmony and countermelody to create a seamless tapestry of sound. It's not hard to hear the choral and organ origins of these pieces, and how