COMPOSERS: JS Bach
LABELS: Sony Masterworks Heritage
ALBUM TITLE: Collection: The Philadelphia Orchestra Plays Bach
WORKS: Brandenburg Concerto No. 5
PERFORMER: Philadelphia Orchestra/Leopold Stokowski, Eugene Ormandy
CATALOGUE NO: MH2K 62345 ADD
‘If Bach was alive today,’ Stokowski reasoned, ‘he would use every resource of the [modern] orchestra... as he used every resource of the organ in his own times.’ His Romantically engorged transcriptions, like Ormandy (no less a master of the medium), aren’t for the purist. But lovers of big-band Bach, massive virtuoso orchestras thundering out organ pedal parts, and up-front sound, will relish them. As historic examples of a once indulgent vogue, these early stereo performances, spectacularly recorded in the Broadwood Hotel, Philadelphia, remain the reference standard. Ates Orga
JS Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 5
‘If Bach was alive today,’ Stokowski reasoned, ‘he would use every resource of the [modern] orchestra... as he used every resource of the organ in his own times.’ His Romantically engorged transcriptions, like Ormandy (no less a master of the medium), aren’t for the purist. But lovers of big-band Bach, massive virtuoso orchestras thundering out organ pedal parts, and up-front sound, will relish them. As historic examples of a once indulgent vogue, these early stereo performances, spectacularly recorded in the Broadwood Hotel, Philadelphia, remain the reference standard. Ates Orga
Our rating
5
Published: January 20, 2012 at 2:38 pm