Search - Stokowski Symphony Orchestra :: Camille Saint-Saëns: Samson and Delilah -- Highlights / Piotr Ilich Tchaikovsky: Eugen Onegin -- Tatiana's Letter Scene

Viscerally exciting

Classic Music Lover | Maryland, USA | 02/25/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Opera doesn't get much more "in your face" than in this recording. None of the performers could be considered quintessentially "French," but in Saint-Saens' powerful and vital score, that's not a bad thing at all. The three main soloists are all highly effective. Rise Stevens' sultry mezzo voice nicely captures the combination of seduction and haughtiness that characterizes the persona of Dalila. Jan Peerce conveys both strength and vulnerability in his interpretation of the Samson role, and Robert Merrill sings the role of the High Priest with aplomb. Leopold Stokowski conducts a frenetic NBC Symphony Orchestra -- practically his only opera recording -- and it makes one wish he'd done more of them. Good, sturdy mono sound, without the weird microphone effects that were done on some of Stoky's other discs for Victor in the mid-1950s. This CD actually contains an additional duet from Act I that had to be cut from the original LP release due to space limitations (although it appeared in the now super-rare red vinyl 45-rpm four-record set released at the same time). The filler on this album (Tatiana's Letter Scene from Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin) is well-sung by Licia Albanese, who reportedly memorized the part in Russian just for this recording. It's interesting to know that at the time of this recording's re-release in 2006, Rise Stevens (age 93) and Licia Albanese (age 94) were still quite active with Met Opera ambassadorial and fund-raising activities."

Visceral Stokowski

Ralph Moore | Bishop's Stortford, UK | 12/15/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A sneaky love for Stokowski is still something some "serious" music-lovers feel the need to apologise for, as if he were not a "proper" conductor - but of course he was a scrupulous musician who breathed life into everything he conducted, even if occasionally he produced a Frankenstein's monster. His musicians loved him and this selection of excerpts from a great, and somewhat neglected opera, does him proud. The best singers of their day on the RCA roster were used for this recording; although none was a native French singer, Rise Stevens was already very experienced in the role of Dalila and both Peerce and Merrill sound fine to me, even though I have read complaints that their French is not idiomatic. I am not French but I speak the language and they sound pretty good to me. Peerce is not the heldentenor the role of Samson requires - his is more of a spinto - but he injects great feeling into his interpretation, has all the notes and enunciates beautifully, the odd slightly distorted French vowel apart. (Never, incidentally, has he sounded so like his great contemporary and brother-in-law, Richard Tucker.) Similarly, Stevens' assumption of Dalila is deeply satisfying, though ultimately her lower register is less effulgent and her top notes slightly less free than the greatest exponents of the role, such as Rita Gorr and Oralia Dominguez; there is always a slight cloudiness in Stevens' voice. I always listen to Robert Merill with pleasure and his French is quite serviceable. Stokowski's conducting is so sympathetic: plenty of rubato when required, great sympathy for his singers and the ability to generate the febrile passion so much of this music requires in this, one of his very few, operatic recordings.. The sound is clear, intense mono; one quickly forgets its limitations. (If you love Stokowski, let me recommend to you one of the most exciting pieces of recording history I know: his version of Tchaikovsky's "Francesca da Rimini" with the "Stadium Symphony Orchestra" - really members of the New York Phil - on the dell'Arte label.) The filler, Licia Albanese in the letter scene from "Eugene Onegin", shows off her clean, pure soprano to advantage and Stokowski's conducts this lovely music with obvious affection. A great record."