Debussy: Nocturnes
Leopold Stokowski, London Symphony, BBC Women’s Chorus
EMI
When all is said and done, no one does “Nocturnes” like the old wizard Stokowski. 1957 tape hiss, recording equipment hum, weird segmented early stereo placement be damned. Here are “Clouds” with liquid strings muted like perfume and an English horn like a genie escaped from a bottle. Here is a real “Festival”! And “Sirens” that build with seductive drama that ensnares you with a trumpet in F, spider-web string tremolos, muted brass, women’s wordless voices, rhythms, accents, and tone colors. Entrapped and digested, you succumb to beauty, magically wrought.
WebTip: Stokowski’s 1957 recording was originally issued on a Capitol LP on which the early stereo engineers manipulated the orchestra palette by isolating some sounds to the far left, others to the far right, and some to dead center. Avoid EMI CD 65422, the first “full dimensional sound” re-release with the words “digitally re-mastered from original session tapes” on the cover (album covers are pictured on some websites; album numbers are sometimes listed as well). On it the isolated stereo is extreme, tape hiss practically drowns soft passages, and a loud hum from defective recording equipment is prominent. Go for the later re-release EMI CD 67313 (the one pictured on amazon.com) or even the earliest CD release EMI 47423. Most websites list CD 67313, but I’d be wary of buying used copies—they could turn out to be that dreaded CD 65422 with the slightly different album cover, same contents, but awful sound.
Brahms: Symphony No. 3
Otto Klemperer, Philharmonia Orchestra
EMI
Christoph Eschenbach, Houston Symphony
Virgin Classics
Klemperer’s is a classic, monumental, old-school interpretation, so powerful it once provided the first esthetic experience to a farmer friend who never before heard classical music. Sound is not the clearest; quality varies depending on the reissue.
Eschenbach is straight out of the Klemperer mold: slow, serious, shaping inner details, and sustaining the work’s over-arching drama—all supported with excellent sound.
WebTip: At the moment the Klemperer recording is available only in a box with Klemperer performing all four Brahms’ Symphonies (of which I can recommend only No. 3), two overtures, and two other works. The “Klemperer Legacy” series (which currently is not available on the internet) has the symphonies reissued on single CDs, pairing No. 3 with No. 2, on which the sound quality of No. 3 is far superior to other reissues I’ve heard. The Eschenbach is available both singly and as part of a box set with all four symphonies. But with the box set available on amazon.com for only $5, why look further!
NOTE: Jeff Tyzik's Concerto for Timpani and Orchestra is a 2010 world premiere - no recordings are available.
