Leopold Stokowski's 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
Similar artists
Discography
16 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
-
Sibelius: Symphony No. 1 in E Minor & Symphony No. 2 in D Major
NBC Symphony Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski's Symphony Orchestra
Klassiek - Released by Signum-Cala on 26 apr. 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert: Rosamunde, Tyrolean Dances - Dvorák: New World Symphony
Leopold Stokowski's Symphony Orchestra
Klassiek - Released by Cala Records on 19 mrt. 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
J.S. Bach Transcriptions, Vol. 2
Leopold Stokowski's Symphony Orchestra, Leopold Stokowksi
Klassiek - Released by Archipel on 28 mei 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Firebird Suite - Enescu: Rumanian Rhapsodies - Debussy: Nocturnes - Wagner: Ride of the Valkyries
Leopold Stokowski's Symphony Orchestra
Klassiek - Released by Signum-Cala on 26 apr. 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Heart of the Ballet
Leopold Stokowski's Symphony Orchestra, Léopold Stokowski
Klassiek - Released by Signum-Cala on 26 apr. 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stokowski Edition, Vol. 2
Léopold Stokowski, London Symphony Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski's Symphony Orchestra
Klassiek - Released by Urania Records on 7 mei 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grainger, Sibelius, Vaughan Williams, Rachmaninov, Granados, Debussy and Ibert
Leopold Stokowski's Symphony Orchestra
Klassiek - Released by Signum-Cala on 26 apr. 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schumann: Symphony No. 2 - Haydn: Symphony No. 53 - Humperdinck, Mozart and Johann Strauss
Leopold Stokowski's Symphony Orchestra
Klassiek - Released by Cala Records on 26 apr. 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stokowski conducts a Russian Spectacular
Leopold Stokowski's Symphony Orchestra
Klassiek - Released by Cala Records on 18 sep. 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bizet: Symphony in C, L'arlésienne Suites - Debussy: Children's Corner Suite
Leopold Stokowski's Symphony Orchestra
Klassiek - Released by Signum-Cala on 26 apr. 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: The Sleeping Beauty - Sibelius: The Swan of Tuonela - Liszt: Les Préludes
Leopold Stokowski's Symphony Orchestra
Klassiek - Released by Cala Records on 26 apr. 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert: Rosamunde, Tyrolean Dances - Dvořák: New World Symphony
Leopold Stokowski's Symphony Orchestra
Klassiek - Released by Signum-Cala on 26 apr. 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: The Sleeping Beauty - Sibelius: The Swan of Tuonela - Liszt: Les Préludes
Leopold Stokowski's Symphony Orchestra
Klassiek - Released by Signum-Cala on 26 apr. 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky & Wagner: The Sleeping Beauty - Tristan Und Isolde
Leopold Stokowski's Symphony Orchestra
Balletten - Released by Altair on 7 mei 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schumann: Symphony No. 2 - Haydn: Symphony No. 53 - Humperdinck, Mozart and Johann Strauss
Leopold Stokowski's Symphony Orchestra
Klassiek - Released by Signum-Cala on 26 apr. 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stokowski Conducts a Russian Spectacular
Leopold Stokowski's Symphony Orchestra
Klassiek - Released by Signum-Cala on 26 apr. 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo