Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Philadelphia Orchestra

Ormandy’s All-American Philadelphia Sound

This week on “The Lost Chord,” it’s one more trip to the well, with well-played works of American composers rendered by Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Slake your thirst with selections from “Five Songs of William Blake” by Virgil Thomson (born on this date in 1896), the Symphony No. 7 by Roy Harris, and “Four Squares of Philadelphia” by Louis Gesensway.

Gesensway was born in Latvia in 1906. A violin prodigy, he was one of the founders of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He came to Philadelphia at the age of 19, where he played under both Stokowski and Ormandy.

In his mid-20s, he took a leave of absence to study composition with Zoltán Kodály. “Four Squares of Philadelphia” was described by the composer as a “symphonic poem for large orchestra, narrator and street criers.”

The piece opens with a recitation of William Penn’s prayer, then continues with musical evocations of Washington Square (in early morning, during Colonial times, with street criers hawking their wares), Rittenhouse Square (on a bright and cheerful afternoon), Logan Square (with its fountains at dusk), and Franklin Square (at night, evocative of noisy bridge traffic, a side excursion into Chinatown, and musical interjections from the honky tonk joints located around the square in the 1950s).

Be there or be square. Eugene Ormandy serves up the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers. I hope you’ll join me for “All-American Ormandy III,” now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Remember, KWAX is on the West Coast, so there’s a three-hour difference for the Trenton-Princeton area. Here are the respective air-times of my recorded shows (with East Coast conversions in parentheses):

PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday on KWAX at 5:00 PACIFIC TIME (8:00 PM EST)

THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday on KWAX at 4:00 PACIFIC TIME (7:00 PM EST)

Stream them here!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

PLEASE NOTE: This show was recorded in 2015 and employs material reissued on compact disc for the first time on the Albany and Bay Cities labels. All three of these performances have since been remastered (including the wholly restored “Five Blake Songs”), as part of Sony Classical’s 120-CD box set of Ormandy’s Philadelphia mono recordings, “Eugene Ormandy: The Columbia Legacy,” in 2021.

The first installment of Ormandy’s stereo recordings were released earlier this month in an 88-CD box, also from Sony, “Eugene Ormandy/The Philadelphia Orchestra: The Columbia Stereo Collection,” on November 17.

Both Sony sets sound fantastic (with the caveat that the first is in mono). Both are highly recommended.

PHOTO: Statue of Penn, high atop the city he founded

November 25, 2023
Ormandy’s Lost Chord American Music

This week on “The Lost Chord,” for Eugene Ormandy’s birthday, it’s the second installment in a three-part series of Ormandy conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra in rarely-heard recordings of American music.

Samuel Barber was born in West Chester, Pa., not far from Philly, in 1910. He attended Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music and had his first orchestral work, the “School for Scandal Overture,” performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1931, when he was 21 years-old.

His “First Essay for Orchestra” was sent to Arturo Toscanini in the same mail as his “Adagio for Strings.” Toscanini performed both works with the NBC Symphony in 1938, but it was Eugene Ormandy who made the first recording of “Essay,” with the Philadelphians, in 1940.

Vincent Persichetti was born in Philadelphia in 1915, and he died there in 1987. In between, he attended Combs College of Music, the Curtis Institute (where he studied conducting with Fritz Reiner) and the Philadelphia Conservatory. He taught at Combs and the Philly Conservatory. Then he received an invitation from William Schuman (some of whose music we heard last week) to take up a professorship at Juilliard.

Persichetti was one of our great composers, but to this day he remains underappreciated, more respected than loved. His Symphony No 4 of 1951 must be one of his most immediately attractive works.

Finally, John Vincent may be the most undeservedly neglected composer in Ormandy’s entire discography. Ormandy described his recording of Vincent’s Symphony in D (“A Festival Piece in One Movement”) as “one of the best we have ever done,” and the piece itself as “one of the finest compositions created by an American composer in the past decade.” The 1954 work sounds at times like Sibelius gone to the rodeo, but my, is it good stuff!

I hope you’ll join me for “All-American Ormandy II.” Ormandy recommends a visit to the Barber (pictured), then convinces with the Vincents, on “The Lost Chord,” now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Happy birthday, Eugene Ormandy!

Remember, KWAX is on the West Coast, so there’s a three-hour difference for the Trenton-Princeton area. Here are the respective air-times of my recorded shows (with East Coast conversions in parentheses):

PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday on KWAX at 5:00 PACIFIC TIME (8:00 PM EST)

THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday on KWAX at 4:00 PACIFIC TIME (7:00 PM EST)

Stream them here!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

PLEASE NOTE: Ormandy’s recording of John Vincent’s Symphony in D was reissued yesterday, November 17, as part of Sony Classical’s new 88-CD box, “Eugene Ormandy/The Philadelphia Orchestra: The Columbia Stereo Collection.” I opened my set this morning with trembling hands!

Persichetti’s Symphony No. 4 was reissued in 2021, as part of Sony’s laudable 120-CD box of Ormandy’s Philadelphia mono recordings, “Eugene Ormandy: The Columbia Legacy.”

Both Sony releases are newly-remastered.

November 18, 2023
Ormandy’s Lost American Legacy Rediscovered

Eugene Ormandy was born Jenő Blau in Budapest in 1899. In 1927, he became a naturalized American citizen and wound up directing the Philadelphia Orchestra for 44 years.

In that capacity, he championed much contemporary music and works by his adopted countrymen – a fact eclipsed by his reputation as a superb interpreter of the 19th century classics.

In fact, for many years, much of his American legacy dropped out of print. In the late 1990s, Albany Records attempted to rectify the situation by reissuing some of Ormandy’s recordings of lesser-heard American music. The series only made it to three volumes, but each one of them is a treasure.

This week on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll hear two selections from these invaluable anthologies. Both are by Pulitzer Prize winners whose music has sadly fallen out of fashion.

William Schuman was the very first recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Music, in 1943, for his “Cantata No. 2, A Free Song.” At the height of his fame, he was also President of Lincoln Center. He was considered such an important figure in American culture, he was even brought on to “What’s My Line?” (Those were the days.)

We’ll hear Schuman’s “Credendum – Article of Faith,” composed in 1955. The work was written in response to the first ever commission by the U.S. government for a symphonic work.

Two years later, the Pulitzer was awarded to Norman Dello Joio, for his “Meditations on Ecclesiastes.” His symphonic suite “Air Power” was adapted from 22 individual scores composed for the CBS television series about the history of aviation. The series ran from November 1956 through the spring of 1957. (Dello Joio would collect his prize in April.) The individual sections were used to underscore segments on the early days of flight, with their barnstormers and daredevils, air battles and war scenes.

I hope you’ll join me for these rarely-heard recordings of American music. Ormandy flies American, on “All-American Ormandy,” on “The Lost Chord,” now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Remember, KWAX is on the West Coast, so there’s a three-hour difference for the Trenton-Princeton area. Here are the respective air-times of my recorded shows (with East Coast conversions in parentheses):

PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday on KWAX at 5:00 PACIFIC TIME (8:00 PM EST)

THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday on KWAX at 4:00 PACIFIC TIME (7:00 PM EST)

Stream them here!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

William Schuman on “What’s My Line?” (1962):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=10…

“Air Power,” narrated by Walter Cronkite (1956):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKXKTh50USM

PLEASE NOTE: Ormandy’s recording of Dello Joio’s “Air Power Suite” will be reissued on Friday, November 17, as part of Sony Classical’s impending 88-CD box, “Eugene Ormandy/The Philadelphia Orchestra: The Columbia Stereo Collection.”

Schuman’s “Credendum” was reissued in 2021, as part of Sony’s 120-CD box (all mono), “Eugene Ormandy: The Columbia Legacy.”

Both Sony releases have been newly-remastered.

November 11, 2023
Ormandy’s Stereo Legacy: New Philadelphia Orchestra Box

Here it comes! Two years after my euphoric reception of Sony Classical’s mega-box of mono recordings by Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra comes news of the first installment of presumably multiple boxes of the partnership’s legendary stereo recordings.

Of course, now we’re getting into duplication territory, as a fair number of these have been reissued countless times and form the core of the Ormandy/Philadelphia legacy. HOWEVER, they will all be remastered, presumably (if following the blueprint of the earlier set) individually filed in sleeves reproducing the original album notes and cover art, and interleaved with a number of dimly-recollected curiosities from the LP era, some of them never revived in any form.

Release date: November 17. I placed my pre-order earlier this week. You can shop around for the lowest price. I’m locked in at $170, and for 88 CDs and the luxury packaging, I consider it a steal.

https://www.sonyclassical.com/releases/releases-details/eugene-ormandy-the-stereo-collection-1958-1963

I’m projecting there will be four of these boxes in all: the mono set, this stereo release of recordings from 1958-1963, a second stereo set covering 1964-1968, and a stereo set embracing the later RCA years. Last year, there was an Ormandy/Minneapolis set of mono recordings predating his Philadelphia years. I already have a fair amount of that material, but it’s only 11 CDs, so maybe I should take a closer look to be sure it’s not something else I should invest in. But it’s really Philadelphia I want. Including maybe a Robin Hood Dell set!

In case you missed it, here’s my enthusiastic reception of the “Eugene Ormandy: The Columbia Legacy” boxed set from May 2020.

The actual press release on Sony Classical’s website is cut-and-pasted with no paragraph breaks and no indication of the actual disc-by-disc content. Here’s a better indication from a secondary source. Still, no mention of the soloists.

https://www.importcds.com/eugene-ormandy-and-philadelphia-orch-columbia-coll/194399774328

Okay, Sony, so maybe you’re not the best when it comes to promoting your reissues. Just keep producing sets of the quality of the original Ormandy box, and you can keep taking my money!

October 15, 2023
Romeo Cascarino Rediscovered

I can’t say it’s what the composer intended, but there’s no such thing as bad publicity. Here’s the slow movement of Romeo Cascarino’s Bassoon Sonata – played on theremin and toy piano!

Cascarino, who was born on this date 101 years ago, grew up in an unforgiving neighborhood in South Philadelphia. With a name like Romeo, he had to learn how to use his fists! While navigating the School of Hard Knocks, he taught himself privately, gleaning the mechanics of music theory from books checked out of the Free Library. He was discovered by composer Paul Nordoff, who recognized his genius, and the two formed a bond that was more like a friendship than teacher-student.

While still in his teens, Cascarino was handed a letter from Aaron Copland, inviting him to Tanglewood. Romeo’s father had secretly sent the “Dean of American Composers” some of Romeo’s compositions, and Copland responded with an impressively favorable evaluation. At Tanglewood, upon further examination, Copland said he couldn’t suggest any improvements and that Romeo’s works should remain just as they were.

If you’re interested to know more, I wrote about Cascarino and Copland in further detail last year:

Later, Cascarino served as a professor of composition at Philadelphia’s Combs College of Music. The recipient of two Guggenheim Fellowships, he labored at his magnum opus, the opera “William Penn,” for the better part of three decades. The work received its premiere at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music in 1982 to mark the 300th anniversary of the founding of the city. Metropolitan Opera singer bass-baritone John Cheek sang the title role.

“William Penn” is one of American opera’s best-kept secrets. I’m convinced, if only it had been completed 30 years earlier, it would now be spoken of in the same breath with Carlisle Floyd’s “Susannah” and Robert Ward’s “The Crucible.”

In 2006, a number of Cascarino’s orchestral works were recorded by JoAnn Falletta for the Naxos label. These too are informed by a seductive, twilit beauty.

The Bassoon Sonata was written at the request of Cascarino’s army buddy, Sol Schoenbach, in 1942. The composer made some sketches, but completed the work only after he was discharged. Schoenbach later became principal bassoonist of the Philadelphia Orchestra and recorded the piece for Columbia Records’ “Modern American Music Series.”

This was the not only music to came out of the war. Cascarino composed his plaintive elegy, “Blades of Grass,” in 1945. The title refers to Carl Sandburg’s poem “Grass,” written in 1918, in response to the “Great War.” It seems the work was played by the U.S. Marine Band as recently as last month!

https://www.marineband.marines.mil/News/Article/3502846/playing-americas-music/

Here it is, performed by English hornist Dorothy Freeman and Philadelphia’s Orchestra 2001.

Happy birthday, Romeo Cascarino, wherever you are. Your music endures, even if we have to thank the Marines, and not the Army, for playing it!

Clockwise from left: Cascarino outside the Academy of Music, before a poster of “William Penn;” at Tanglewood with Aaron Copland (Copland standing, arms crossed, center, with Cascarino the big guy holding the cigarette on the right); and Sgt. Cascarino conducting a U.S. Army band

September 28, 2023

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