More and More Stokowski:  Caveat Emptor

There seems to be a glut of Stokowski recordings coming from a number of
different sources.  Someone must feel there is money to be made by issuing
The Maestro's work.  The problem is that the quality of the CDs varies
widely.  This report is to let you know about two recent items that you may
come across in your travels down classical lane.

First is a ten-disc set that runs a mere $40.00 at H&B Direct (plus
$4.00 post).  That's a good price, but Almost all of the material has
been released previously on Pearl, Biddulph, CALA and even RCA!!!  After
several listenings I can honestly say that the previous issues are all as
good or better than anything in this set.  Most of the material is from
the Philadelphia era, but there are a few items from the New York City
Symphony Orchestra (Carmen music from 1945 released on Pearl and the
Romeo and Juliet on CALA 502) and the NBCSO (Solitude, also on the same
CALA release).  For their reproduction of the Biddulph "Fantasia" they
substituted the Disney recording of the Dukas which was actually recorded
by a studio pick-up orchestra.  The sound is as bad as on the Disney
release, grainy and flat.  One of the discs contains the Mussorgsky/Ravel
excerpts of "Pictures" and Scriabin "Poem du vei" from the live, stereo
experiments in 1932 (not on CD so far as I know).  The rest is Philadelphia
stuff.  It includes a disc of Wagner music (various dates), a disc of
Bach transcriptions (various dates) the Rachmaninov Piano Concerto #2,
the Tchaikovsky 5th from 1934 and the 1935 Dvorak 9th.  I found most
interesting the disc that contains the Beethoven 9th from 1934 mit der
finale in English.  This was first issued on CD by yours truly and the
Leopold Stokowski Society of America (later on Music and Arts) so I was
interested to compare the two.  What I found is that the LSSA's has a bit
more surface noise, but greater clarity and depth.  This is possibly
because the set was cut at a slightly lower level, perhaps to mask surface
noise.  Still, if you don't have any of these already, it is a good way to
get introduced to the Sound World of Stokowski.  For what it is worth, the
cover art on the CDs has one of the worst photos of Stokowski I have ever
seen.  He looks like Larry of the Stooges.  The insert notes range from
useless to hysterical.  In the one on Wagner the first paragraph is
repeated, verbatim, as the last paragraph.  On the other hand the rest of
the essay was so dull and uninformative that perhaps repeating the last
paragraph was the best idea.  I could go on.  If you must have the set, it
is inexpensive and you might want to use it as a hook for others.  It isn't
bad, there is just better (or wasI am not sure how easy it would be to get
some of the originals)

Moving on we go to the Casadesus Piano Concerto #2.  This is from a live
broadcast with the "New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra" (NYPO) on 14
March 1948.  The sound is average for these kinds of things.  Little or no
work has been done to "help" the original masters.  The soloist is the
composer.  I found the music to be unimaginative and not memorable at all.
There are some other Casadesus solo works on the disc including Ravel's
Juex D'Eau, Faure's Prelude and Impromptu #5s, Severac (who???) and 12
Debussy Preludes.  These are from Columbia recordings from 1928 to 35.
While this may be of interest to Casadesus aficionados, I have other
recordings of the same music I prefer.  To my ear I have always felt
Casadesus didn't use pedal enough.  He sounds brittle, perhaps more suited
to Mozart than the French.  I much prefer Gieseking in the Preludes.  The
disc is pricey as well.

Cascavelle 2012 at H&B Direct.  I got the "History" set from that company
as well.  If you haven't checked them out they have good prices and an
excellent selection.  Postage is reasonable, unlike RCA's club and other
similar ilk.  You get a "free" membership by subscribing to ARG, which you
can get for a reduced price by belonging to H&B.  Complicated, I know, but
what-the-hay.  The only drawback is having that goose necking irritation of
not wanting to look at Vroon's editorials.  You know, I want to see it but
I don't.

Well, I may have saved you 40 bucks.  I got the opportunity to revisit
some old friends.

Peace from he who is stumpf.