Matthias Bamert Marx Memorial Library Memorial Marx
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Orchestral Transcriptions of LEOPOLD STOKOWSKI MATTHIAS BAMERT Leopold 1960s Stokowski, Mary Evans Picture Library / Marx Memorial Library Leopold Stokowski (1882 – 1977) The Art of Orchestral Transcription Toccata and Fuge, BWV 565* 10:00 in D minor • in d-Moll • en ré mineur by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750) 1 Toccata 3:42 2 Fugue 6:18 3 Pavane and Gigue† 4:40 (Pavane ‘The Earl of Salisbury’ from Parthenia and ‘A Gigg’ from the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book) by William Byrd (c. 1540 – 1623) 4 Aria* 5:50 (‘Air on the G String’) from Orchestral Suite No. 3, BWV 1068 by Johann Sebastian Bach 3 5 Trumpet Prelude‡ 2:15 (‘The Prince of Denmark’s March’) by Jeremiah Clarke (c. 1674 – 1707) Attributed, as The Trumpet Voluntary, to Henry Purcell (1659 – 1695) Patrick Addinall trumpet 6 Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring† 3:06 No. 10, Chorale ‘Jesus bleibet meine Freude’, from Cantata, BWV 147 Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben by Johann Sebastian Bach 7 Sarabande and Courante† 4:39 from the keyboard suite Auf meinen lieben Gott, BuxWV 179 by Dieterich Buxtehude (c. 1637 – 1707) Cynthia Millar Ondes Martenot 8 Wachet auf† 4:04 (‘Sleepers, wake!’) ‘Schübler’ Chorale Prelude, BWV 645 by Johann Sebastian Bach 4 9 Marche funèbre‡ 6:59 from Piano Sonata in B flat minor, Op. 35 by Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin (1810 – 1849) 10 Dido’s Lament† 3:59 (‘When I am laid in earth’) from Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell (1659 – 1695) 11 Turkish March‡ 2:47 Rondo alla Turca from Piano Sonata in A major, KV 331 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791) 12 Panis angelicus‡ 3:45 by César Franck (1822 – 1890) 13 United Nations March‡ 2:29 by Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 – 1975) 14 A Night on the Bare Mountain§ 10:13 by Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (1839 – 1881) 5 15 Andante cantabile‡ 7:50 from String Quartet No. 1 in D major, Op. 11 by Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky (1840 – 1893) 16 In the Manger‡ 2:51 (Traditional Slavic Christmas Music) by Mikhail Mikhaylovich Ippolitov-Ivanov (1859 – 1935) 17 The Stars and Stripes Forever‡ 3:27 by John Philip Sousa (1854 – 1932) TT 80:19 BBC Philharmonic Richard Howarth* • Yuri Torchinsky† • Ora Shiran‡ • David Nolan§ leaders Matthias Bamert 6 Leopold Stokowski: The Art of Orchestral Transcription Introduction arrangements of his works: Mahler, The musical career of Leopold Stokowski Schoenberg, Respighi, Grainger, Klemperer, (1882 – 1977) began in London and New York and Stravinsky, to name just a few. To with church appointments in which Bach’s these may be added such British musicians organ works formed a major part of his solo as Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Holst, Wood, repertoire. When he took up conducting, Sargent, Barbirolli, and Walton. The music in 1909, at the age of twenty-seven, the of no other composer has been so much orchestral compositions of Bach that he transcribed as that of Johann Sebastian wished to perform were necessarily limited to Bach – such is its unique adaptability the ‘Brandenburg’ Concertos and Orchestral into a variety of other forms – but it was Suites. It was during his early years with Leopold Stokowski who made more Bach the Philadelphia Orchestra that he began transcriptions than any other. Perhaps he transcribing Bach’s music. He turned first took his inspiration from the composer to those keyboard pieces familiar from his himself, as Bach, too, was an inveterate organ-playing days. The worldwide success transcriber of the works of others, especially of his famous 1927 disc of the Toccata and Vivaldi. Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 kick-started a Inevitably, the character and personality of great deal more activity on the Maestro’s the great transcriber becomes evident in the part and within a few years Stokowski had music that he arranges, and Stokowski’s Bach produced several dozen Bach orchestrations transcriptions reflect Stokowski’s own desire from a wide variety of sources. With these for rich orchestral sonorities. Needless to say, arrangements he brought to audiences of the they have had their critics over the years, 1920s and ’30s music which they would not but with the advent of the ‘ancient music otherwise have heard in the concert hall. school’, his arrangements can be seen in a The notion of scoring music by Bach for new light – as orchestral showpieces providing symphonic forces was not new and over an alternative ‘symphonic’ view of the great the years many musicians made orchestral baroque composer. Their effectiveness cannot 7 be denied, and to some ears may even be Transcriptions’ with a collection of the preferable to the sparer, more attenuated Maestro’s Bach arrangements. Its success led efforts of an ‘authentic performance’! However, to a wide-ranging survey by the same forces not all are grandiloquently scored, and quite of many other orchestrations by that great often his approach is simplicity itself. conductor. In these he presented familiar Since the death of Stokowski at the age of music in a brand new light or revived pieces ninety-five in 1977, other conductors have been which had become neglected in their original attracted to his transcriptions as providing forms. They embrace a wide range of musical something fresh for modern orchestras to play periods and styles and provide evidence of now that Bach’s music has become almost Stokowski’s love of orchestral colour, thus fully the sole preserve of ancient music ensembles. justifying the title of this new compilation: ‘The Matthias Bamert, Assistant Conductor to Art of Orchestral Transcription’. Stokowski during the latter’s final years with the American Symphony Orchestra, studied Bach: Toccata and Fugue in D minor the Maestro’s methods at first hand, and The Toccata and Fugue in D minor is the best adopted some of Stokowski’s ideas, notably known of all Bach arrangements, due to its ‘free bowing’ in the strings. This technique inclusion by Stokowski and the Philadelphia was much admired by the late Hans Keller, Orchestra in Walt Disney’s classic cartoon who wrote: feature Fantasia (1940). Prior to that, Stokowski Stokowski showed his concern for had made a best-selling early-electric individuality by abolishing collective 78 rpm disc which won plaudits from bowing – everybody up, everybody down – the magazine Gramophone in 1927: and instead just defined the required sound Every organist has his ideal conception and phrasing: you achieve it by whatever of how he would like this arranged for means are at your disposal... one man’s orchestra, but I do not think any will withhold up-bow is another man’s down-bow... But very high praise indeed... the only word is phrasing is there to be heard, not seen, and ‘magnificent’. Stokowski’s innovations are bound to be This celebrated organ music dates from Bach’s rediscovered. time at Weimar (1708 – 17); Stokowski’s version Matthias Bamert and the BBC Philharmonic was first played by the Philadelphia Orchestra began their series of recordings of ‘Stokowski on 8 February 1926. 8 Byrd: Pavane and Gigue 26 December 1924. After he conducted it as William Byrd, the ‘Father of Musick’ during an encore to a London Symphony Orchestra the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, became joint concert in 1972, he remarked to the audience: organist, with Thomas Tallis, of the Chapel ‘Some people say that music wasn’t by Royal. Stokowski’s sonorous orchestration Purcell, but by Jeremiah Clarke’. Lifting his of two of his keyboard pieces, Pavane eyes to the Royal Albert Hall’s great domed ‘The Earl of Salisbury’ and ‘A Gigg’, was first ceiling, he added: ‘Whoever you are, thank heard in 1937. Naturally, Byrd cannot have you very much!’ foreseen that his clavichord music would be decked out for symphonic forces three Bach: Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring hundred years later, any more than today’s ‘Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring’ was once made composers can imagine what their music very popular in a piano arrangement by will sound like on the instruments, as yet not Dame Myra Hess. In its original form a chorale invented, of the year 2316! from Bach’s Cantata, BWV 147 Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, it is here arranged Bach: Aria for flute, oboe, cor anglais, two bassoons, One of Bach’s best-loved melodies, the ‘Air contrabassoon, three horns, one trumpet, on the G String’ (as it has been popularly euphonium, tuba, and strings. known for many years) comes from the Third Orchestral Suite (or ‘Overture’, as Buxtehude: Sarabande and Courante Bach himself called it). In the original, the Dieterich Buxtehude achieved such fame melody is given solely to the first violins, but that Bach trekked 200 miles to hear him in Stokowski’s arrangement, it is featured play the organ. More than two centuries prominently in both lower and upper strings. later, in December 1930, Stokowski made a special transcription to mark the debut Clarke: Trumpet Prelude in Philadelphia of Maurice Martenot, then A Choice Collection of Airs, published in 1700 introducing his new ‘Electrical Instrument’ for the harpsichord, included a piece long to America. Stokowski told his audiences: referred to as ‘Purcell’s Trumpet Voluntary’ The inventor has no desire to imitate which Stokowski re-titled Trumpet Prelude existing instruments but wishes to add a and first performed in Philadelphia on totally new colour to the orchestral palette. 9 The Ondes Martenot (as it came to be puts it, was England’s ‘greatest composer, known) was then heard in this extraordinary certainly so of his period and style’. In April arrangement of a Sarabande and Courante, 1949 Stokowski conducted the New York originally for organ, by Buxtehude.