BACH-STOKOWSKI Transcriptions = Toccata and Fugue in D Minor; Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor; Chaconne; Ein feste Burg; 3 Chorale-Preludes; 3 Sel. from Book I of WTC; Little Fugue; Adagio, Adagio and Fugue in C – Philadephia Orch. – Naxos Historical

by | Nov 19, 2008 | Classical Reissue Reviews | 0 comments

BACH-STOKOWSKI Transcriptions = Toccata and Fugue in D Minor; Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor; Chaconne from Violin Partita No. 2 in D Minor; Ein feste Burg, BWV 80; 3 Chorale-Preludes; 3 Selections from Book I of The Well-Tempered Clavier; Little Fugue in G Minor; Adagio from Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C, RWV 564 – The Philadelphia Orchestra/Leopold Stokowski

Naxos Historical Great Conductors 8.111297, 75:33 [Not Distrib. in the USA] ****:

Bach inscriptions made by Leopold Stokowski 1927-1939, here remastered by Mark Obert-Thorn from prewar, American shellacs. Ever the romantic, Stokowski wished to exploit the orchestra’s timbres and colors in order to reveal Bach the mystic, perhaps as the “chromatic” predecessor of Wagner, Tchaikovsky, and Scriabin. Spreading the Bach instrumentation along the symphony’s “diapason,” Stokowski could elicit from the Philadelphia Orchestra a distinctly organ sonority, one that luxuriated in Bach’s stretti and polyphonic layering. That this technique could educe some monumental effects becomes obvious in the 7 April 1934 rendition of Wir glauben all’an einem Gott, BWV 680, a thick and solemn procession of elemental power. The Philadelphia string line finds in the Prelude in B Minor, BWV 869 (2 May 1929) an expressive, weaving melodic line over a pizzicato bass that might have evolved from one of the Bach passions.  String trills and harp add to the tragic melancholy of the E-flat Minor Prelude, BWV 853 (12 October 1927), a dark procession that might complement the slow movement from Schumann’s C Major Symphony or the Fifth of Gustav Mahler. The Ein feste Burg (20 April 1939), the latest of the recordings, becomes sheer Wagner, a clear extension of impulses from Parsifal.

The program opens with the ever popular Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565 (6 April 1927), a lush, driven rendition that exploits a “gothic” narrative that films like Rouben Mamoulian’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde seemed to visualize. The transcription of Bach’s famed Violin Chaconne (30 April 1934) proceeds very slowly, a thickly caramel approach which might align the work more closely with the Brahms Passacaglia from his Fourth Symphony. The fugal offerings move faster, more sprightly even in their dark power, like the Fugue in C Minor, BWV 847 (7 April 1934) from WTC; then, the so-called Little Fugue in G Minor (17 March 1931), which plays off the Philadelphia woodwind section to decided advantage until the various trills usher in the violas, basses and brass, quite reminiscent of the Second Brahms Serenade. A particularly serene, disciplined moment occurs with the transcription of the Adagio from BWV 564 (28 October 1933), tenderly invoking its step-wise melody and swelling dynamics to create an orison of intimate power. Like the Chaconne, the Passacaglia under Stokowski ((16 November 1936) receives a broadly lyrical treatment, the free-bowing of the strings often neutralizing the inexorability of the rhythmic pulse, cross-fertilizing Bach with Tristan. Gorgeous sound throughout adds a special, sonic vigor to these pioneer expressions of a romantic’s appropriation of the Baroque master.

— Gary Lemco
 

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