Notes and Editorial Reviews
It's about time that Sony/BMG paid tribute to one of the best-selling classical artists of all time. Hard-core collectors may carp that most of this material already has appeared on either Essential Classics or Masterworks Heritage, and the fact is that aside from the mono material from the 1950s, Ormandy's Sony discography has been very well served on CD. The one incomprehensible exception, remedied here, is his Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition, perhaps the best version of Ravel's orchestration ever recorded and now appearing domestically for the first time in tandem with Ormandy's voluptuous Scheherazade.
It's also worth pointing out that although the jackets may be original, the couplings thankfully are not. Thus, The
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Romantic Philadelphia Strings contains Ormandy's outstanding Vaughan Williams Fantasia on Greensleeves and one of the best-ever Tallis Fantasias, now freed from its previous CD coupling to works by Delius. The Bartók disc (Concerto for Orchestra, Miraculous Mandarin Suite, Two Pictures) is also outstanding and too little known, so it's good to have it here. I would have loved to see the same treatment given to Ormandy's Hindemith, but that's just wishful thinking. Eyebrows may also raise at the two discs of Bach transcriptions, but not only are they wonderfully done, they do highlight Ormandy's gifts as a post-Stokowski Bach arranger, an important part of his legacy.
Not surprisingly, Russian music rules in this collection. It was Ormandy's specialty. We get his glorious Tchaikovsky Fifth Symphony and Serenade for Strings, his magnificent (albeit traditionally cut) Rachmaninov Second, and his classic Shostakovich Cello Concerto with Rostropovich coupled to an excellent First Symphony. The composer himself attended these sessions and was dazzled by both conductor and orchestra. These are all must-have recordings. Ormandy was also known during his lifetime as the best concerto accompanist in the business, and this coupling of Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn violin concertos shows his cordial collaboration with Isaac Stern operating at the very highest level.
The first disc contains Ormandy's Sony recordings of Respighi's Roman Trilogy, which frankly are not the best versions sonically; I would have greatly preferred to have his other Respighi recordings included--Church Windows, The Birds, and La boutique fantasque. Still, there's some amazing playing here; the sonority that Ormandy gets in that wild tune at the end of Roman Festivals has to be heard to be believed. The absence of anything by Sibelius (aside from Valse triste in Romantic Strings) strikes me as a bit odd--Ormandy's First Symphony was incomparably luscious--but then everyone will have their favorites. On the whole, Sony has put together a wonderful collection of vintage Ormandy/Philadelphia material. It was special then, and it remains so now.
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com
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Works on This Recording
1.
Pines of Rome by Ottorino Respighi
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1923-1924; Rome, Italy
2.
Fountains of Rome by Ottorino Respighi
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1914-1916; Rome, Italy
3.
Feste romane by Ottorino Respighi
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1928; Rome, Italy
4.
Pictures at an Exhibition for Orchestra (orchestrated by Ravel) by Modest Mussorgsky
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1874/1922; Russia
5.
Scheherazade, Op. 35 by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1888; Russia
6.
Symphony no 2 in E minor, Op. 27 by Sergei Rachmaninov
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1906-1907; Russia
Date of Recording: 1959
Notes: Eugene Ormandy's earlier 1959 stereo recording with authorized cuts by the composer.
7.
Songs (14), Op. 34: no 14, Vocalise by Sergei Rachmaninov
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1912-1915; Russia
8.
Symphony no 5 in E minor, Op. 64 by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1888; Russia
9.
Serenade for Strings in C major, Op. 48 by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1880; Russia
10.
Concerto for Orchestra, Sz 116 by Béla Bartók
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1943; USA
11.
Miraculous Mandarin, Op. 19/Sz 73 by Béla Bartók
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1918-1919; Budapest, Hungary
12.
Pictures (2) for Orchestra, Op. 10/Sz 46 by Béla Bartók
Performer:
Anshel Brusilow (Violin)
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1910; Budapest, Hungary
13.
Concerto for Violin in E minor, Op. 64 by Felix Mendelssohn
Performer:
Isaac Stern (Violin)
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1844; Germany
14.
Concerto for Violin in D major, Op. 35 by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Performer:
Isaac Stern (Violin)
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1878; Russia
15.
Symphony no 1 in F minor, Op. 10 by Dmitri Shostakovich
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1924-1925; USSR
16.
Concerto for Cello no 1 in E flat major, Op. 107 by Dmitri Shostakovich
Performer:
Mstislav Rostropovich (Cello)
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1959; USSR
17.
Clavierbüchlein no 2 for Anna Magdalena Bach: Minuet in G major, BWV Anh. 114 [attrib. Christian Petzold] by Johann Sebastian Bach
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
18.
Clavierbüchlein no 2 for Anna Magdalena Bach: Musette in D major, BWV Anh. 126 [doubtful] by Johann Sebastian Bach
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: Baroque
Written: 1725; Germany
19.
Clavierbüchlein no 2 for Anna Magdalena Bach: March in D major, BWV Anh. 122 [attrib. C.P.E. Bach] by Johann Sebastian Bach
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
20.
Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147: Jesu bleibet meine Freude "Jesu, joy of man's desiring" by Johann Sebastian Bach
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: Baroque
Written: 1723; Leipzig, Germany
21.
Fugue in G minor, BWV 578 "Little G minor" by Johann Sebastian Bach
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: Baroque
Written: by 1706; Arnstadt, Germany
22.
Suite for Orchestra no 3 in D major, BWV 1068: Air by Johann Sebastian Bach
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: Baroque
Written: circa 1729-1731; Leipzig, Germany
23.
Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C major, BWV 564 by Johann Sebastian Bach
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: Baroque
Written: 1708-1717; ?Weimar, Germany
24.
Grand Overtures (6), Op. 18: no 1 in E flat major for Double Orchestra by Johann Christian Bach
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: Classical
Written: 1779; London, England
25.
Grand Overtures (6), Op. 18: no 3 in D major for Double Orchestra by Johann Christian Bach
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: Classical
Written: by 1781
26.
Sinfonia in D minor, F 65 by Wilhelm Friedemann Bach
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: Classical
Written: 18th Century; Germany
27.
Cavalleria Rusticana: Intermezzo by Pietro Mascagni
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: Italy
28.
Adagio for Strings, Op. 11 by Samuel Barber
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1936; Rome, Italy
29.
Kuolema: Valse triste, Op. 44 no 1 by Jean Sibelius
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1903-1904; Finland
30.
Lyric Suite for Orchestra, Op. 54: 3rd movement, Nocturne by Edvard Grieg
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1891/1904; Norway
31.
Elegiac Melodies (2) for Strings, Op. 34: no 2, Last spring by Edvard Grieg
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1881; Norway
32.
Woodland Sketches, Op. 51: no 1, To a Wild Rose by Edward MacDowell
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1896; USA
33.
Fantasia on Greensleeves by Ralph Vaughan Williams
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1934; England
34.
Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis by Ralph Vaughan Williams
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1910/1919; England
35.
Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 by Johann Sebastian Bach
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: Baroque
Written: by 1708; Germany
36.
Passacaglia in C minor, BWV 582 by Johann Sebastian Bach
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: Baroque
Written: circa 1708-1712; Arnstadt, Germany
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