I sent this a couple of hours ago. I was sure I had checked the address to
make sure it was going to the entire ARSC list (I always do), but now I
see that "Reply" sent it just to Dave. So here's the message again. Sorry.
Don Tait
____________________________________
From: [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: 5/7/2014 2:50:56 P.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: Re: [ARSCLIST] Stokowski and percussion instruments
There is an off-the-air recording of Beecham conducting Bruckner's Seventh
Symphony with the Royal Philharmonic after World War II. Unfortunately
it's incomplete. But much of the symphony is there and the performance is
magnificent.
Beecham conducted a Mahler symphony -- number Four, I think -- in one of
his first London concerts. Around 1907. But Mahler's music apparently
didn't appeal to him.
Beecham did have formal training in music, especially at the school to
which he was sent, Rossall. In his biography of Beecham, Alan Jefferson
wrote that the young Beecham astonished the school's music master, Dr.
Sweeting, with his ability to play any Beethoven piano sonata at sight.
In the opera house Beecham conducted works by a wide range of composers.
He was an enthusiastic champion of the music of Richard Strauss, and his
performances of Elektra were particularly famous.
Don Tait
In a message dated 5/6/2014 9:25:07 P.M. Central Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
My original comment which started this thread was my surprise that Beecham
could play the piano - not because I thought conductors were not
instrumentalists, (I don't believe there are many conductors who aren't proficient
on some instrument), but because, as far as I know, Beecham never had any
formal training in music, certainly not in conducting. Fortunately for us,
he had a natural aptitude which is evident in his extensive recorded legacy,
but I don't think he studied with anybody; his family was financially
loaded so he or they paid for orchestras to come to chez Beecham as his "toys"
for him to practice with. He by and large conducted popular repertoire,
"Lollipops" and main stream symphonies etc. I don't think I've ever heard a
Bruckner or Mahler Symphony under Beecham, nor Prokofiev, Shostakovitch or
Schoenberg. But he did make a point of dusting off obscure repertoire, like
the Lalo Symphony. None of this is intended to be a put down
of Beecham; I revere his readings and would never leave a Beecham
recording in the store if I didn't already have it. My favourite of all the
recorded "Messiah"s is his 1947 version - the first and only complete Messiah on
78s and Beecham's only complete Messiah. The 1959 version leaves out some
of the "B" sections of arias, ("He Was Despised" and, I believe, "The
Trumpet Shall Sound")
db
On Tuesday, May 6, 2014 9:14:28 PM, David Lewis <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Although of minor relevance to the thread, Stoki added xylophone to his
>arrangement of Handel's "Water Music" which he recorded for Victor in, I
>think, 1927.
>That would be heresy these days, but I found the effect quite novel and
>musical.
>
>David N. "Uncle Dave" Lewis
>Lebanon, OH
>
>
>On Tue, May 6, 2014 at 7:53 PM, Tom Fine
<[log in to unmask]>wrote:
>
>> Related to this discussion:
>>
>> In the December 1958 issue of Hi-Fi Review:
>> http://tinyurl.com/lcsjutn
>>
>> There is an article by Colin McPhee about the music of Bali. Photos show
>> drums and other native instruments.
>>
>> -- Tom Fine
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jack McCarthy" <
>> [log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2014 7:18 PM
>> Subject: [ARSCLIST] Stokowski and percussion instruments
>>
>>
>>
>> In 2012-13 I served as consulting archivist for the Philadelphia
>>> Orchestra's
>>> celebration of the centennial of its hiring of Stokowski as conductor.
In
>>> the PO archives I came across a letter from Stoki during his 1928 Asia
>>> trip
>>> in which he informs the PO that in Java he had purchased four Javanese
>>> gongs
>>> and was shipping them to the Orchestra. I was later able to track the
>>> gongs
>>> down - they are owned by the Curtis Institute.
>>>
>>> Eichheim, who traveled with Stoki for part of the trip, also composed a
>>> piece entitled "Java" that Stoki premiered with the PO in 1930. It
called
>>> for tuned gongs. I presume they used the ones Stoki had purchased.
>>>
>>> For an exhibit I did as part of the centennial celebration, I was able
to
>>> display Stoki's letter, two of the actual gongs, and the program from
the
>>> 1930 performance of "Java."
>>>
>>>
>>> Jack McCarthy
>>> Certified Archivist
>>> Archival/Historical Consultant
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
>>> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Carl Pultz
>>> Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2014 8:10 AM
>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Dora Labbette, Soprano with string quartette:
The
>>> Flowers of the Forests, 1925?
>>>
>>> I'm rereading Oliver Daniel's "Stokowski." He tells about Stoki's
>>> Asia/south
>>> seas trip in the 20s when the conductor studied percussion with Indian
>>> physicist Jagadis Bose and collected instruments. Eichheim's "Bali"
stems
>>> from this journey, which Stoki later recorded. Some of those
instruments
>>> may
>>> have ended up on his famous recording of "Gurrelieder." It was an
enduring
>>> interest, as well into the 50s he was playing percussion works by
>>> Harrison,
>>> et al, and premiered McPhee's Tabuh-Tabuhan in 1953.
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
>>> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Donald Tait
>>> Sent: Monday, May 05, 2014 8:08 PM
>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Dora Labbette, Soprano with string quartette:
The
>>> Flowers of the Forests, 1925?
>>>
>>> Reiner also studied percussion as a student in Budapest. Including
>>> timpani, which might help explain the added prominence of and
occasional
>>> added timpani parts in his CSO recordings (it's harder to tell with his
>>> Pittsburgh and other recordings). I remember talking to Sam Denov, who
was
>>> then a retired member of the Chicago Symphony's percussion section. He
>>> said
>>> "Reiner was DEATH on percussion." Meaning that he not only heard
>>> everything,
>>> which was a given, but that he knew exactly what he wanted and wouldn't
>>> settle until he got it. Sam was speaking from his personal CSO
>>> experience....
>>>
>>> Also, Reiner made piano rolls in 1925 et seq. Four-hand versions in
which
>>> he was credited as being one of the two pianists and others in which
he
>>> was
>>> credited as the "conductor." Philip Hart wrote about it on page 44 of
his
>>> biography of Reiner.
>>>
>>> Don Tait
>>>
>>>
>>>
>
>
>
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