Léopold Stokowski
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
Artistas similares
-
Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 11 - Khachaturian: Symphony No. 2, "The Bell"
Houston Symphony Orchestra, Léopold Stokowski
Clásica - Editado por Urania Records el 31/05/2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Symphony No. 8 (Recorded 1950) (Live)
New York Philharmonic, Léopold Stokowski
Clásica - Editado por New York Philharmonic el 8/12/2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stokowski Edition, Vol. 4 (Live)
Léopold Stokowski, London Symphony Orchestra, (Dame) Janet Baker, Rae Woodland, Unknown Artist
Clásica - Editado por Urania Records el 7/05/2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Leopold Stokowski with the All-American Youth Orchestra & The Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra
All-American Youth Orchestra, Goddard Lieberson, Henry Cowell, Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra, Léopold Stokowski
Clásica - Editado por Music and Arts Programs of America el 14/04/2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Symphony No. 1 - Wagner: Symphonic Synthesis from Tristan Und Isolde
Philadelphia Orchestra, Léopold Stokowski
Clásica - Editado por Guild Music el 15/07/2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stokowski conducts (1952)
Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Mercury Orchestra, Léopold Stokowski, Rafael Kubelik
Clásica - Editado por Music and Arts Programs of America el 21/11/2006
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
Clásica - Editado por Naxos el 29/09/2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: Magic Fire Music & Wotan's Farewell - Chopin: Mazurkas, Op. 17, 28 & 64 - Canning: Fantasy On A Hymn Tune by Justin Morgan (Transferred from the Original Everest Records Master Tapes)
Houston Symphony Orchestra, Léopold Stokowski
Clásica - Editado por Everest el 6/10/2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grieg: Piano Concerto in A Minor / Grainger: Molly On the Shore / in A Nutshell / Schumann, R.: 3 Romanzen / Etudes Symphoniques (Grainger) (1928-46)
Percy Grainger, Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra, Léopold Stokowski
Clásica - Editado por Music and Arts Programs of America el 1/01/1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Symphony No.9 - "Choral"
London Symphony Orchestra, Léopold Stokowski
Clásica - Editado por Decca Music Group Ltd. el 20/04/2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Enescu: Rumanian Rhapsody - Borodin: Dances of the Polovetzki Maidens - Debussy: The Engulfed Cathedral Etc. (Recorded 1947 & 1949)
Clásica - Editado por Guild GmbH el 15/02/2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stokowski Conducts Russian Music, Vol. 1
Philadelphia Orchestra, Léopold Stokowski
Clásica - Editado por Biddulph Recordings el 1/01/1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade - Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet
Philadelphia Orchestra, Léopold Stokowski
Clásica - Editado por Guild Music el 15/09/2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Concertos pour piano n° 1 et 4
Serge Rachmaninoff, Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy, Léopold Stokowski
Clásica - Editado por Naxos el 18/03/1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stokowski Edition, Vol. 1
Léopold Stokowski, NBC Symphony Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski's Symphony Orchestra
Clásica - Editado por Urania Records el 7/05/2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Elgar: Enigma Variations - Brahms: Symphony No. 1
Clásica - Editado por Signum-Cala el 26/04/2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner, Beethoven, Ravel, Stravinsky & Various Encores: Prelude to Act 3 of Lohengrin - Symphony No. 5 - Alborada del Gracioso - Petrushka Suite - Various Encores
Léopold Stokowski, Philadelphia Orchestra
Clásica - Editado por Infinity el 28/10/2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Great Conductors: Leopold Stokowski at Edinburgh International Festival, 1961 (2020 Remaster) [Live]
Léopold Stokowski, London Symphony Orchestra
Clásica - Editado por Jube Classic el 10/07/2020
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Leopold Stokowski - Hovhaness, Milhaud, Copland, Serebrier 1942-57
Clásica - Editado por Guild Music el 22/06/2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Van Cliburn • Leopold Stokowsky: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Van Cliburn, Léopold Stokowski
Clásica - Editado por Ermitage Records el 27/03/2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gustav Holst: The Planets, Op. 32 (Album of 1958)
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Women's Voices Of The Roger Wagner Chorale, Léopold Stokowski
Clásica - Editado por GazzaLadra el 11/08/2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo