A Stokowski Retrospective (4)

These remastered 78s reissued on the Pearl label contain some of Stokowski's most iconic recordings, including his first Philadelphia Wagner outings.

[@mgconlan]

I love Stokowski's Wagner! The discs you reviewed were Volumes 1, 2 and 4 of the Pearl series. Volume 3 is a two-CD set of highlights from "Der Ring des Nibelungen" - all four operas - with Lawrence Tibbett doing Wotan's Farewell (stunningly) and a radio singer named Agnes Davis (misspelled "Davies" on Pearl's notes) singing five minutes of the final duet from "Siegfried" with tenor Frederick Jagel and a quite powerful and impressive performance of Brünnhilde's Immolation. Agnes Davis proves that you don't have to have a voice the size of Flagstad's, Traubel's or Nilsson's to make this music work. Davis also sang the soprano solo part on Stokowski's recording of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (which, like a lot of Ninths back then, used an English translation of the "Ode to Joy" which rendered "Freude" as "gladness" because they needed a two-syllable word).

[@bbailey7818]

Davis actually sang an Elsa in Lohengrin in a 1937 Met Spring season. It was her debut and farewell. Those Wagner sets were important as in those days it was the only way to hear a lot if that music, especially Rheingold.

[@theraccoons9617]

Hi Dave just a quick enquiry I have your Sibelius book which my wife is reading to me which she is doing admirably but I was wondering if you have done audio book versions of your other composer books,thanks David

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

I have not. No one has ever asked.

[@user-et8mh2ki1c]

Thank you, Dave. I have not heard Stokowski's Wagner syntheses, but would certainly like to, especially the Tristan synthesis. The Tristan synthesis I know is by Franz Waxman for the ending of Humoresque (with Oscar Levant at the piano) when Joan Crawford walks out into the Long Island Sound and drowns herself as the Liebestod fills the airwaves. Awesome stuff! Would love to hear how Stokowski does it (even without Joan Crawford).

[@bbailey7818]

Try the stereo Philadelphia recording of the Tristan first.

[@BriGuy1974]

The Overture and Venusberg to Tannhauser is the most remarkable interpretation of the material I've heard. I'm not sure why no one else has done that radical accelerando Stoki does. That whole sequence is maniacal, making you feel like the opera is just going to fly-apart. I hate to say it, but every recording and performance since has been boring by comparison. / That gets me to a larger note about these historic works. Yes, the sound quality is lacking, but the interpretations are fresh. The problem is that over time recordings influence future performances until there is a semblance of consensus and everything sounds about the same. For better and for worse, Stokowski always steered his own course and could never be accused of following what others did.

[@BriGuy1974]

And I will be totally bummed-out if Stoki did the accelerando just to make the section fit onto the side of a 78!