Leopold Stokowski - Wartime NBC Premières
Aaron COPLAND (1900-1990)
Short Symphony (Symphony No. 2) (1932) [15:26]
Richard MOHAUPT (1904-1957)
Concerto for Orchestra based on Red Army Songs (1942) [21:38]
Paul LAVALLE (1908-1997)
Symphonic Rhumba [5:21]
Howard HANSON (1896-1981)
Symphony No. 4, Requiem, Op. 34 (1943) [21:57]
Daniele AMFITHEATROF (1901-1983)
De profundis clamavi (1944) [19:53]
George ANTHEIL (1900-1959)
Symphony No. 4, 1942, W.177 (1942) [32:03]
Stokowski: Introduction to Schoenberg Piano Concerto
[00:25]
Arnold SCHOENBERG (1874-1951)
Piano Concerto, Op. 42 (1942) [19:39]
Eduard Steuermann (piano)
NBC Symphony Orchestra/Leopold Stokowski
rec. live broadcast recordings, 1942-1944
PRISTINE PASC536 [64:52+72:03]
The NBC premieres collated in this twofer reinforce – as if such
reinforcement were needed – just how inquisitive, alert, and alive
Stokowski was to the music of his time. Few have done as much as he
to spread the word. With Toscanini’s orchestra at his disposal
the period covered here, 1942-44, coincides almost exactly with the
Petrillo Ban, when commercial recording was curtailed for union musicians
in America. In a sense this makes the survival of broadcast material
and to a lesser extent V-Discs all the more important. Certainly, this
tranche is important for musical, historical and discographic reasons,
let alone the intrinsic qualities of the performances and the elevated
executant standard of the orchestra.
There is, for instance, the US premiere of Copland’s Short Symphony.
Though the recorded sound is on the dry side there is an intensity to
the reading that catches the ear – the propulsion, once past a
slightly sticky start, generates intensity and the culmination in its
taut and frolicsome finale. Richard Mohaupt, the German composer born
in 1904 but resident in the US since the 30s, composed his Concerto
for Orchestra, based on Red Army Songs in 1942 and this December 1943
world premiere is a perfect vehicle for Stokowski’s brand of romanticist
bravura. He encourages the kind of Phily-like portamenti that Toscanini
would never have countenanced and gives full rein to glowering percussion
in the central Largo with its tragic, baleful atmosphere.
Paul Lavelle’s Symphonic Rhumba is a five-minute jeu
d’esprit, a sleek and savoury Latino fiesta. I think even Machito
himself might have been impressed by the fiery percussion. It serves
as a rather incongruous preface to Hanson’s Symphony No.4 ‘Requiem’,
heard here in its radio, but not world premiere performance. Composed
in memory of his father, the symphony brings out Stokowski’s seemingly
innate ability to get to the emotive crux of a score. The ardent string
cantilena of the opening Kyrie conveys an astonishing sense of rapt
communion, the ripe portamenti of the Requiescat, the Largo, buttress
and inflect with great intensity and the biting Dies Irae is followed
by the radiance of the Lux aeterna. Hanson congratulated Stokowski many
years later for this ‘magnificent performance’; truer words
were seldom spoken. Another work that explores the depths is Russian-born
Daniele Amfitheatrof’s De profundis clamavi. Best known as a film
composer the piece was written as a tribute to those who were losing
their lives in the war. Its twenty-minute filmic lusciousness is opulent
in the extreme, though these moments are balanced, sectionally, by more
militant aggressive rhythms. It’s played with remarkable passion.
Antheil’s Symphony No.4, helpfully subtitled ‘1942’received
its world première, heard here, two years later. The march themes and
moody elements in this work must also reflect contemporary crises, where
strong percussion and brass calls intersperse with string slides to
create an air of desperate unease. The Scherzo is decidedly reminiscent
of Shostakovich but there’s an equally imposing scena-like vitality
to panels of the finale. Once again, the performance pulsates with fire.
Before Eduard Steuermann’s authoritative performance of Schoenberg’s
Piano Concerto (world premiere, February 1944), Stokowski can be heard
very briefly – for no more than 25 seconds - extolling the piece
and was well-known for his advocacy of the composer’s music. Its
complexities seem fully assimilated in this reading which, given it
was the premiere, argues for a ferocious work ethic from all concerned.
Edward Johnson’s wise one-page note sets the scene for the works
which have been excellently mastered for this release. For Stokowski
adherents, and for admirers of the composers, this is pretty much a
mandatory purchase.
Jonathan Woolf
Previous review: Rob
Barnett
Broadcast Details
Copland - 9 January 1944 - US Première
Mohaupt - 19 December 1943 - World première
Lavalle - 6 December 1942 - World première
Hanson - 2 January 1944 - Radio première
Amfitheatrof - 20 February 1944 - World première
Antheil - 13 February 1944 - World première
Schoenberg - 6 February 1944 - World première
