Leopold Stokowski Symphony Orchestra
Leopold Anthony Stokowski, one of the true conducting luminaries of the twentieth century, was born in London in 1882. His father was Polish, his mother Irish, but he was raised as an Englishman. His famous, vaguely foreign, accent somehow appeared later in his life. The young Stokowski was a precocious musician, and as a child learned to play the violin, piano, and organ with apparently little effort. At the age of 13, he became the youngest person to have been admitted to the Royal College of Music.
By 18, Stokowski had been appointed organist and choirmaster at St. James', Piccadilly. He attended Queen's College, Oxford, receiving a Bachelor of Music degree in 1903. He moved to the United States in 1905, but returned to Europe each summer for further musical studies in Berlin, Munich, and Paris. When a conductor fell ill in Paris in 1908, he made his debut as an emergency substitute. The impression he made led to a position with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in which he quickly achieved notable success. However, a more tempting prospect faced him when he was asked to take over the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1912. It was during his long and fruitful association with this ensemble that Stokowski established himself as one of the leading musicians of his day.
Stokowski gave the orchestra an entirely new sound, popularly known as the "Philadelphia Sound" or the "Stokowski Sound." Its foundation was a luxuriant, sonorous tone and an exacting attention to color. He pioneered the use of "free" bowing, which produced a rich, homogenized string tone. A relentless innovator, Stokowski experimented with orchestral seating, famously lining up the string basses across the rear of the stage and, in an early instance, massing all the violins on the left side of the orchestra and the cellos on the right. He also had spotlights directed on his hands and his impressively prominent hair to enhance his dramatic, theatrical aura. One of the first modern conductors to give up the use of the baton, Stokowski employed graceful, almost hypnotic, hand gestures to work his magic.
Indeed, Stokowski was the first conductor to become a true superstar. He was regarded as something of a matinee idol, an image aided by his appearances in such films as the Deanna Durbin spectacle One Hundred Men and a Girl (1937) and, most famously, as the flesh-and-blood leader of the Philadelphia Orchestra in Walt Disney's animated classic Fantasia (1940). In one memorable instance, he appears to be talking to the cartoon figure of Mickey Mouse, the "star" of a sequence featuring Dukas' The Sorcerer's Apprentice. In a clever parody, when the slumbering apprentice dreams of himself directing the forces of Nature with the masterful sweep of his hands, Disney artists copied Stokowski's own conducting gestures.
Following his tenure in Philadelphia, Stokowski directed several other ensembles, including the All-American Youth Orchestra (which he founded), the NBC Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic (both as co-conductor), the Houston Symphony Orchestra (1955-1960), and the American Symphony Orchestra, which he organized in 1962. He continued to make concert appearances and studio recordings of both standard works and unusual repertoire (including the first performance and recording of Charles Ives' decades-old Symphony No. 4) well into his nineties. He made his last public appearance as conductor in Venice in 1975, remaining active in the recording studio through 1977. He died on September 13, 1977, in Nether Wallop, Hampshire, England.
© TiVo
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Discographie
14 album(s) • Trié par Meilleures ventes
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Bach: The Transcriptions by Stokowski (Toccata & Fugue, Passacaglia, Air on the G string ..)
Léopold Stokowski, Leopold Stokowski Symphony Orchestra
Classique - Paru chez Alexandre Bak - Classical Music Reference Recording le 16 sept. 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Great Transcriptions
Leopold Stokowski Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Symphony of the Air, Léopold Stokowski
Classique - Paru chez Urania Records le 3 juil. 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Holst: The Planets, Op. 32 - Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4 - Bartók: Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta, Sz. 106 - Loeffler: A Pagan Poem, Op. 14
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski Symphony Orchestra, Léopold Stokowski, Unknown Artist
Classique - Paru chez Urania Records le 29 avr. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Transcriptions (Volume 2)
Julius Baker, Philadelphia Orchestra, All-American Youth Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski Symphony Orchestra, Léopold Stokowski
Classique - Paru chez Naxos le 29 sept. 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Pièces transcrites pour orchestre symphonique (Arr. for Orchestra By Leopold Stokowski, Mono Version)
Léopold Stokowski, Leopold Stokowski Symphony Orchestra
Divers - Paru chez BNF Collection le 1 janv. 1954
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Vaughan Williams, Riegger, Hovhaness & Creston: Symphonic Works
Classique - Paru chez Cala Records le 7 déc. 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vaughan Williams, Riegger, Hovhaness & Creston: Symphonic Works
Léopold Stokowski, Leopold Stokowski Symphony Orchestra
Classique - Paru chez Signum-Cala le 26 avr. 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Handel, Ippolitov-Ivanov & J. Strauss II
Leopold Stokowski Symphony Orchestra, NBC Symphony Orchestra
Musique symphonique - Paru chez Altair le 15 sept. 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Great Conductors: Leopold Stokowski Conducts Goeb & Weber (Remastered 2015)
Leopold Stokowski Symphony Orchestra, Warren Galjour, Léopold Stokowski
Classique - Paru chez Jube Classic le 5 févr. 2016
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Musiques de ballet (Mono Version)
Leopold Stokowski Symphony Orchestra, Léopold Stokowski
Divers - Paru chez BNF Collection le 1 janv. 1954
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Borodin: Danses polovtsiennes - Liszt: Les préludes (Mono Version)
Leopold Stokowski Symphony Orchestra, Léopold Stokowski
Divers - Paru chez BNF Collection le 1 janv. 1952
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Leopold stokowski conducts liszt · wagner · tchaikovsky · sibelius
Léopold Stokowski, Leopold Stokowski Symphony Orchestra
Classique - Paru chez G.O.P. le 5 janv. 2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Harrison, L.: Suite for Violin, Piano and Small Orchestra / Weber, B.: Symphony On Poems of William Blake (Stokowski) (1952)
Maro Ajemian, Warren Galjour, Anahid Ajemian, Leopold Stokowski Symphony Orchestra, Léopold Stokowski
Classique - Paru chez Naxos Classical Archives le 1 janv. 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Orchestral Music - Grainger, P. / Chopin, F. / Sibelius, J. / Schubert, F. / Mozart, W.A. (Stokowski) (1949-1950)
Leopold Stokowski Symphony Orchestra, Percy Grainger, Léopold Stokowski
Classique - Paru chez Naxos Classical Archives le 1 janv. 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo