Robert Casadesus

Black Oak Ensemble, the Chicago-based string trio with an international following, treats listeners to a double-album of stylish and often witty French treasures written between the World Wars.

Following up on the success of Sony Classical’s recent large-scale Ormandy collections – his monaural discographies with the Minneapolis Symphony and Philadelphia orchestras – the label now presents the conductor’s stereo recordings from Philadelphia containing all recordings released from 1958 to 1963 (plus some fillers from later years) Eugene Ormandy took over the music directorship in Philadelphia from Leopold Stokowski in 1938 and held the position for 42 years. During that time his name and the orchestra’s became inseparable as he cultivated and further developed the voluptuous sound that originated with his predecessor.

All the pieces included here are by French composers who lived during the impressionist period. D’Indy’s Symphonie sur un chant montagnard français is a sort of hybrid work, a mixture of a symphony and a piano concerto. This work enables the highly regarded Martin Helmchen to demonstrate his musical and technical skills once again.

Following up on the success of Sony Classical’s recent large-scale Ormandy collections – his monaural discographies with the Minneapolis Symphony and Philadelphia orchestras – the label now presents the conductor’s stereo recordings from Philadelphia containing all recordings released from 1958 to 1963 (plus some fillers from later years) Eugene Ormandy took over the music directorship in Philadelphia from Leopold Stokowski in 1938 and held the position for 42 years. During that time his name and the orchestra’s became inseparable as he cultivated and further developed the voluptuous sound that originated with his predecessor.

Jean-Philippe Rameau - Platee
Hans Rosbaud / Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire / Michel Sénéchal
EAC+LOG+CUE | 2xCD, APE: 438 MB | Partial Artwork | Mono | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: EMI France # 7243 5 73169 2 7 | Country/Year: France 1999, 1956
Genre: Classical | Style: Baroque, Opera

…Comic opera was relatively rare during the Baroque era in France and the musicologist Cuthbert Girdlestone expresses his surprise that none of Rameau's contemporaries seem to have remarked on the innovative nature of Platée. Rameau may have been inspired by a revival of an earlier comic opera, Les amours de Ragonde by Jean-Joseph Mouret, in 1742, or by Joseph Bodin de Boismortier's comic opera-ballet, Don Quichotte chez la Duchesse from 1743.

The Radio Legacy is a compilation of the seven part Anthology of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the four box sets devoted to the orchestra s chief conductors Willem Mengelberg, Eduard van Beinum, Bernard Haitink and Riccardo Chailly, and also featuring more recent recordings with Mariss Jansons.

From the notes:"It is often said, not without justification, that Toscanini's performances stand out from those of his contemporaries for what might be called their (for the time) 'modern' approach, which is to say that the excesses of Romantic subjective interpretation were, generally speaking, not for him. What distinguished his readings principally is his extraordinary command of structure, realised through the appositeness of his chosen tempi, very rarely varied, and only then to make a definite musical point, almost as a punctuation in the overall schematic plan, allied to orchestral playing of considerable concentration and commitment. Toscanini never needed to indulge in jejune 'point-making' as an interpretative habit - nor did he countenance it in other conductors." written by Robert Matthew-Walker

RCO - Anthology of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Vol 2, 1950-1960 (2003) {14CD Box Set Q Disc 97018, Limited Edition}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 3.80 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 2.39 Gb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 133 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1950-60, 2003 Radio Netherlands Music / Q Disc | 97018
Classical / Orchestral / Symphony

Again we are indebted to NM Classics for another volume (the second) in their Anthology of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra series. This one covers the period 1950-1960 and contains many unusual treasures as well as a number of performances that have already been issued: the fine Daphnis and Chloe with Monteux which currently is available on both Audiophile Classics and Music & Arts, Bruno Walter's Mozart, Mahler and Strauss all of which are available on Music & Arts, and the Brahms concerto with Monteux/Milstein, available on Audiophile Classics and Arioso (as well as a discontinued Tahra set). However, there are many fascinating items here including a number of major additions to Eduard van Beinum's discography. We have Beinum conducting music of Dutch composers Hans Henkemans (1913-1995), Anthony van der Horst (1899-1965), and Matthijs Vermeulen (1888-1967).

From the notes: 'In his later years Monteux came to resent being labeled "a French conductor" and being asked to program mostly French music. (His favorite composer was Brahms, followed by Wagner.) As he told Ross Parmenter of The New York Times, "… Debussy didn't exist when I was educated. Neither did Ravel. I was brought up on Haydn, Mozart, and a little Brahms. I have learned the French since. But I am not a French conductor. I'm just a conductor". Yet his rapport with Debussy was very great. He said that Debussy had little patience for those who performed his music in an overly delicate and perfumed manner Debussy rehected the term "impressionism" as applied to his music, and said, according to Monteux, "When I write forte, I mean forte". In the three Images and Jeux Monteux takes the composer at his word, and achieves great transparency of textures without undue delicacy…'

Over 40 years of collaboration between Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra is among the most dazzling and longest connections in the history of classical music. In this unique edition, all mono recordings from the period from 1944 to 1958 appear on 120 CDs for the Columbia label. They also reflect an important section of record history in the changing cover design. Ormandy, a master of orchestral brilliance and timbres and also appreciated as an excellent companion, created the famous "Philadelphia Sound" with his orchestra.