Stokowski: Bach Orchestral Transcriptions
Leopold Stokowski's Orchestral Transcriptions are guilty pleasures: high-fat concoctions that are always in danger of becoming campy and gargantuan, something like the classical equivalent of Phil Spector, but without the guns. It is crucial to almost (and I mean "almost") underplay them; they will speak for themselves.  The transcriptions are not particularly complicated and lack anything even vaguely revolutionary in their tonality. What we get is a wall of string tone carrying the melodies, usually, with brass and winds used for focus and enlarging. The famous Bach Passacaglia finds the entry of the brass reiterating the ostinato with a handsome blare, and much to the credit of conductor José Serebrier, he does not play all his cards so early in the piece. It builds and builds, and then blows us away. The CD opens with the almost too famous Air from the 3rd Orchestral Suite of Bach. Serebrier gets just the right dark, warm sound from the low strings that one associates with a Stokowski performance. Also included on the CD are Dido's Lament (Purcell), not needing its text in such an expressive performance; a big, toasty version of the Pastoral Symphony from Messiah; and a pairing of Two Ancient Liturgical Melodies by Stokowski himself. The Bournemouth Symphony seem to know they're doing something popular. This is a stunning CD and the engineers have done a great job as well.--Robert Levine