There have been an
increasing number of new recordings
of Stokowski’s Mussorgsky symphonic
transcriptions but this must be one
of the best yet to be encountered. It’s
superbly recorded – my set up is not
wired for SACD but it sounds sumptuous
enough without it – and encompasses
prodigious orchestral detail. At the
helm is Serebrier, for five years Stokowski’s
associate conductor (three letters from
the older man to the young Serebrier
are reprinted in the booklet and they
reveal his laconic wit as well as professional
concern – and an eye for the ladies).
The transcriptions
span the years 1922-1941 if we include
the delightful pendant of the two Tchaikovsky
pieces. A Night on Bare Mountain is
characteristically bold and dramatic
though the extrovert flourishes are
balanced but incisive lyricism and it’s
this duality that gives the piece its
tensile strength. Serebrier’s sonorities
and editorial decisions are his own,
not Stokowski’s – he makes no overt
attempt to replicate the Stokowski recording.
The famous Symphonic Synthesis of Boris
Godunov dates from 1936. The Bournemouth
orchestra reveal real flair and finesse
and they seem to relish the drama and
passion of the score. It’s useful to
be reminded of Stokowski’s own transcription
of Pictures at an Exhibition. It was
completed in 1939 and involves the removal
of Tuileries and The Market Place at
Limoges. In his notes Serebrier speculates
that they sounded too French for Stokowski
who, whilst he greatly admired Ravel’s
work, felt it nevertheless insufficiently
Russian.
Stokowski’s elegant
string cantilena is certainly removed
from Ravel’s more cosmopolitan sound
and he tends to strip away Ravel’s effects,
preferring instead a strongly glowering,
darker patina. The darker textures are
part of the conductor’s conception ,
but he also indulges plenty of wit in
the Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks or
Ballet of the Chickens in their Shells
to give it its presumably echt Stokowskian
title. The Catacombs by contrast is
truly sepulchral and in the Great Gate
of Kiev there are some astounding trombone
figures, chattering winds, braying trumpets
and lower brass and a powerful climax.
Splendid to hear all this, and so well
played too.
The Humoresque makes
a charming pendant, as indeed does Solitude
but there is also Stokowski’s own Traditional
Slavic Christmas Music (1933), based
on Ippolitov-Ivanov’s In a Manger
which was itself derived from a Christmas
hymn. This is the kind of transcription
at which Stokowski was so much a master
– it bears some comparison with the
Philadelphia Two Ancient Liturgical
Melodies transcription and is almost
as compelling.
A warm welcome to this
disc, made possible through grants from
the Stokowski Society and the BSO Endowment
Trust, for presenting Stokowski’s transcriptions
with such finesse, power and elegance
and such persuasive intelligence.
Jonathan Woolf
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/José
Serebrier 
