Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Sony Classical

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
Yardumian Ormandy Philly Rediscovered

Every year on Richard Yardumian’s birthday, I reflect on my days in community radio. I remember well playing his music from vinyl during my apprentice years, and I wonder at how those recordings – by the Philadelphia Orchestra, no less – have somehow dropped off the face of the planet.

Yardumian served as the orchestra’s composer-in-residence from 1949 to 1964. During that period, Philly gave first performances of no less than ten of his works, beginning with “Desolate City” in 1945. Eugene Ormandy recorded six of them. The music is attractive, well-crafted, and often deeply felt, with insights into the composer’s spiritual convictions and Armenian heritage.

Okay, maybe there was no financial incentive for Sony to reissue recordings of a dimly-recollected “niche” composer, when Ormandy’s “Scheherazade” continues to rake it in no matter how many times it is re-released. Then why not license the Yardumian recordings to another label?

In the 1990s, Albany Records briefly revived some of Ormandy’s lesser-known American classics – among them, works by the equally neglected Louis Gesensway and John Vincent – so my hopes were high that I would finally be able to acquire Yardumian on CD. Alas, the series petered out after only three volumes.

Well, after nearly 35 years in radio, it appears my thinly-worn patience is finally about to be rewarded, as I only just learned of an impending box set on Sony Classical (the modern incarnation of Columbia Records) that is to comprise the orchestra’s complete mono recordings made under Ormandy from 1944 to 1958.

This will include all the staples, of course – Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Rachmaninoff, and Sibelius – but also much American music, including everything on the Albany series, but also recordings of Norman Dello Joio, Roy Harris, Leon Kirchner, William Schuman, and another composer closely associated with the orchestra, Harl McDonald. None of these have ever before been officially reissued.

Interestingly, Virgil Thomson’s “Five Blake Songs” is also listed, which would suggest the set will include even the long-suppressed “The Little Black Boy.”

In all, 152 of the recordings are said never to have appeared on compact disc. Philadelphia was responsible for some of the works’ first U.S. performances. Some of them were world premieres. There are simply too many highlights and curios to itemize. The list of vocal and instrumental soloists is also self-recommending.

On the one hand, it makes me happy to know I will finally be able to access so many of these recordings easily in pristine copies. On the other, I realize that the value of my LP collection continues to plummet.

The set, EUGENE ORMANDY/THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA: THE COLUMBIA LEGACY, runs to 120 CDs and will be issued on April 9!

You can find the press release, with more information, here:

https://www.jensenartists.com/single-post/sony-classical-releases-eugene-ormandy-and-the-philadelphia-orchestra-the-columbia-legacy

April 5, 2021
Black Composers Series Reissue Neglect

This is really weird. Arguably the most exciting set of reissues in years, and Sony Classical is giving it absolutely no promotion. It’s not on their Facebook page. It’s not listed anywhere on their official website. Instead, they keep pushing their recording of the same old tired New Year’s Concert from Vienna.

Yet I know for a fact that my postings about, and airing highlights from, the newly released “Black Composers Series” have generated notable enthusiasm and resulted in a number of confirmed orders. It’s evident from social media that others who have learned of its reappearance are no less excited. Unfortunately, it looks like, if this set is going to achieve anywhere near the success it deserves, it’s going to have to be totally through word of mouth. Which is a real shame, Sony.

The Black Composers Series was a bold undertaking in the 1970s, a pioneering effort and an idealistic investment in the future – nine albums of unknown repertoire by minority composers, only several of whom may have been on the very periphery of a few collectors’ consciousness, at best. Even so, it’s rumored that the series was originally intended to run to 20 volumes. We are so lucky to have what we got.

On some level, it’s hardly surprising that the plug might have been pulled 40 years ago. After all, the series was a bold gamble. (On the other hand, record labels did take more chances back then, and it was an accepted fact that classical records needed time to find their audience.)

Sadly it appears that, even all these years later, the Black Composers’ Series struggles for the exposure and respect it deserves. It’s especially distressing that the company that produced it displays so little confidence, or perhaps awareness, of its true worth that they have essentially just dumped it on the market.

I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. I am so, so happy that Sony finally got around to making these recordings available again. I only wish the label were more nurturing.

Be that as it may, I’ll continue to do what I can by devoting the entire month of February, #BlackHistoryMonth, to airing highlights from this terrific set. Tune in tonight to hear works by George Walker (pictured) and José Maurício Nunes Garcia.

Walker was the first African-American recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Music – as recently as 1996 – for his work, “Lilacs for Voice and Orchestra.” He was the first black musician to graduate from the Curtis Institute of Music and a pupil of Nadia Boulanger. We’ll hear his virtuosic Trombone Concerto of 1957.

Then we’ll travel to South America for music by Nunes Garcia. Nunes Garcia was Master of Music of the Royal Chapel in Rio de Janeiro. He composed over four hundred pieces of music, including the first Brazilian opera. We’ll hear his Requiem Mass, from 1816, written at the request of John VI of Portugal for funeral services for his mother, Maria I.

It’s just an example of this set’s amazing diversity. I hope you’ll join me “Black to the Future, Part II” – the second of four programs devoted to Columbia Records’ forward-looking, if neglected, Black Composers Series – this Sunday night at 10:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

February 10, 2019

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