Nicolo Moscona, bass (Rimsky-Korsakov)/ Symphony Orchestra and Women’s Chorus/ Leopold Stokowsik – Cala CACD0546, 75:06 **** [Distr. by Forte]:
The natural affinity between Leopold Stokowski (1882-1977) and Russian music is perhaps no better documented than in his RCA recordings that had their LP incarnation on LM 1816, with its scene from Disney’s Fantasia–A Night on Bare Mountain--on its cover. Stokowski recorded most of the music on this disc between February and April 1953, employing members of the New York Philharmonic as well as independent musicians who would comprise “His Symphony Orchestra.”
Although the Mussorgsky piece provides the only direct link to the Disney animated feature, the performance–utilizing all sorts of glissandi and edits to a achieve a seamless invocation of Satan’s own coven–proves so effective that it sets a watermark of orchestral execution for this virtuoso tonepoem. Oboist Robert Bloom has a virtual hegemony of effect in many of these selections, especially as Stokowski surrounded him with that especial luster collectors call “the Stokowski sound.” No less resonant is Stokowski’s arrangement of three scenes from Mussorgsky’s opera Khovantchina, culminating with the grim Entr’Acte from Act IV, the exile of Prince Galitsin. Intensely expressive and chromatic, the agonized music moves to another of Robert Bloom’s lyrically melancholy evocations. The Russian Easter Overture, a piece Stokowski recorded once more in Chicago, has here its most liquid, sensual realization, particularly with the addition of basso Nicola Moscona to intone the Orthodox chant in lieu of the trombone, a musical ploy Stokowski had introduced with the NBC Symphony Orchestra. The orchestral patina, the interplay of flute and tremolando strings, Leonard Rose’s cello entries and John Corigliano’s violin, each contribute to a scintillating, graduated pageantry, a veritable orgy of sound . The little Russian Sailors’ Dance by Gliere is a grumpy tune that soon proceeds through a series of colorful variants–with horns and tambourines–to culminate in a brilliant peroration, another showpiece for Stokowski that makes us wish he had devoted more time to this gifted composer. The original RCA disc opened Side 2 with Borodin’s In the Steppes of Central Asia, here given an expansive, seductive reading more than competitive with alternate versions by Fricsay and Mitropoulos. Robert Bloom’s languid oboe paints a canvas of caravans and ageless oriental mysticism.
The Tchaikovsky Polonaise (1 October 1953) and Borodin Dances of the Polovetzki Maidens (8 February 1950) are added to this splendid disc, courtesy of the Leopold Stokowski Society. For the Tchaikovsky, the string and trumpet work proves exemplary, one of those extravagantly lush Stokowski incarnations which worship at the Temple of Sound. Stokowski once quipped that when he got to heaven he would personally thank Tchaikovsky for all of his marvelous melodies. The 1950 Prince Igor arrangement begins with chords and effects a step away from Scheherazade, until the women’s chorus and harp transport us to another part of Araby. The dervish dances dazzle for sheer energy and high octane color imagery. An impressive series of convulsions and we, too, remain convinced that Stokowski would be no Stranger in Paradise.
— Gary Lemco
