Search - Cesar Franck, Sergey Prokofiev, Maurice Ravel :: Ravel: Fanfare l'Éventail de Jeanne; Franck: Symphony in D minor; Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky

An edge-of-your-seat 'Nevsky' from Stokowski -- not to be mi

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 02/21/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is an immensely enjoyable concert transcription from August, 1970, when Stokowski was a young 88. He cmae to the Netherlands to prepare for a recording session to be done for Decca -- the main work was the Franck D minor, which came out on Decca's Phase 4 label, a souped-up stereo job with ultra-highlighted solos. The concert is a more natural experience, in very good sound. The radio orchestra of the Netherlands wasn't the Concertgebouw, but it plays very well -- Stokowski was given extensive rehearsals -- and stylistically, despite some Stoki retouches, the reading is expressive without being extreme or glib. I am not a great fan of the work, but in Stokowski's hands I listened to every measure with pleasure. The sonics are resonant of a big concert hall.



The second half of the concert brings the main event, Stokowski's only recorded account of Alexander Nevsky (he programmed it in the Sixties with his American Sympony in New York but never took it into the studio). A previous release on Music & Arts was in good clear stereo, but here we get the best sound, presumably. (I wouldn't be surprised, however, if the Stokowski Society was the source for both.) The reading is dramatic in Stokowski's best style (I think I hear some of his signature jiggery-pokery with the orchestration, too), often brisker and more propulsive than one might expect, and never milked for sentimentality. Without indulging in Russian mannerisms, he avoids the poker face of Abbado (DG) and Reiner's tight, unemotional discipline (RCA).



Both of those readings are classics in their own way, but here is a highly cinematic reading that growls, shouts, and cajoles with melancholy. I was won over by the Music & Arts issue, and now this one sounds twice as vivid. Ensemble isn't always perfect, but the conductor draws incredible color and variety from the score. The chorus is suitably rough -- these are medieval peasants and warriors, after all, not ladies and gentlemen -- but the resonant hall swallows up their pronunciation. Overall, a treasurable one-of-a-kind."