Tommy Dorsey Archive

Stokowski Conducts 20th Century Americana = Works of SHILKRET, GOULD & CRESTON – Guild

by Audiophile Audition | Feb 11, 2016 | Classical Reissue Reviews

Conductor Stokowski’s dedication to American colorful scores finds an energetic testament on this release. Stokowski Conducts 20th Century Americana = SHILKRET: Trombone Concerto; GOULD: Latin-American Symphonette; CRESTON: Saxophone Concerto, Op. 26 – Tommy Dorsey, trombone/ New York City Sym. Orch./ James Abato, sax/ Hollywood Bowl Sym. Orch./ Radio Italiana Orch. of Turin (Gould)/ Leopold Stokowski – Guild GHCD 2424, 64:57 (1/15/16) [Distr. by Albany] ****: The bobby-soxers came out in noisy droves for the world premier of the Trombone Concerto by composer Nathaniel Shilkrtet (1889-1982), with popular band leader and instrumentalist Tommy Dorsey doing the solo part. The concert (15 February 1945) captures the creative personality of Shilkret, who had conducted the premier of Gershwin’s An American in Paris, and aspects of the same composer’s Concerto in F infiltrate the second movement of the Trombone Concerto. Stokowski has to chide twice the vociferous teenaged crowd to quiet down for the music to proceed. Shilkret quotes several popular tunes in his jazzy, flighty, pop style, like “I’m Getting Sentimental Over You.” The trombone work proves slick and glossy, virtuosic in a glittery sense, like an Elvis Presley pelvis shake. Here, the musical allusions beckon to the Hollywood of Errol Flynn and […]