Description

JACOB AVSHALOMOV (b. 1919): The Taking of T’ung Kuan (7:53). TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op. 64 (43:52) with Leopold Stokowski and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, recorded during the concert of November 20, 1952. SMETANA: “Tábor” from Má Vlast (13:20) with Rafael Kubelik and the Mercury Orchestra, recorded December 6, 1952 in Chicago. Original Recording Engineer: Bert Whyte. CD Producer and Audio Restoration Engineer: Mark Obert-Thorn. [AAD]. Total time: 65:06 UPC #0-17685-11902-6

Buzz: It was Fritz Reiner who once said that Leopold Stokowski was “the man who invented high fidelity” and it is certainly true that of all the great 20th-century conductors, Stokowski stood alone in his fascination with recorded sound and his intense interest in the technical methods used to obtain the finest results. Two examples of his early stereo recordings appear here, both first releases, from stereo tapes made by pioneering American recording engineer Bert Whyte. The Smetana filler had only appeared as a mono recording on the Mercury label; the clarity and dynamic range of this stereo version are stupendous!