Inscriptions from 1967 (Lalo, 13 February) and 1966 (Bruch, 22 February) – just about the time Isaac Stern entered into what I call his schmaltz period. The tone remained sweet, the intonation focused, but the phraseology had begun to acquire a syrup the music did not require, especially his Dvorak Concerto with Ormandy. Collectors are well aware that it was Stern who played the Lalo in excerpt for the Hollywood film Humoresque with John Garfield. The opening Allegro non troppo from the Spanish Symphony is quite broad, the lyrical sections bordering on self-indulgent. The quicker fioritura finds me better convinced of the fine ensemble among all participants, not the least of whom are the Philadelphia brass section.
Rich textures as only the Philadelphia Orchestra can supply for the colorful, bouncy Scherzo with its instrumental veronicas. A full-blooded Intermezzo–and it is always a plus to have the complete score of the Lalo–follows, with strong punctuations from Ormandy and suave, erotic, even overripe, riffs from Stern. Heavy drama from the Andante, the only movement not directly based on a Spanish modal idiom. If you don’t mind Stern’s transforming this elegy into Baal Shem, you will love this realization. Nice tympani work in this movement. The harp, triangle, and winds set a rich ostinato texture for the flurry of Stern’s pyrotechnics in the last movement Rondo. It’s all very four-square: tinkling, and pretty, but rather too risk-free for my imaginative longings about Rita Hayworth.
The tympani rolls, and the winds purr out the familiar, opening strains of the Bruch G Minor Concerto. Stern is all premeditated sugar, as even his upward scales are weighted with carbohydrates. The gestures are big, nonetheless, and one can never complain about Ormandy, the accompanist par excellence. The secondary tune has lovely work from de Lancie et al. from the Philadelphia wind section. I prefer the Heifetz classicism in the midst of Bruch’s overwrought rhetoric, though Guila Bustabo remains a personal favorite. Stern’s acceleration to the orchestral tutti (the Perry Mason theme) is quite effective. A lush transition to the Adagio, and again Stern can perfectly intone sentimentally slow Hallmark cards. Tripping apoggituras and we’re off to the syncopated races of the Allegro energico, sweetly dazzling, big symphonic sounds from Ormandy and the band. Upward sweep to the main theme, here a close cousin of Schelomo, but tenderly played, wrapped up in the Philadelphia’s fuzzy blanket. The da capo and coda are predictably and vitally sincere.
While I do not mind CD reissues that hearken to the old LP formats, adding to this short disc Stern’s Tzigane and Introduction and Rondo capriccioso would not have hurt my feelings of nostalgia.
— Gary Lemco
