Discocorp LSSA-228 is the transfer of the day. On this Leopold Stokowski Society issue, we have the maestro conducting Rachmaninoff's Second Symphony with the Hollywood Bowl Symphony (from 1946) and his arrangement of the Prelude in C# (rom 1960) with the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Apparently, this was the first issue from the LS Society and it is an absolutely thrilling record. Though critics were tepid about the sound, I have no qualms whatsoever. Damn, this is from a live radio broadcast of 1946 so how could it be state of the art?! Stoky makes the typical cuts in the score, but who cares? His commitment to this unwieldy masterpiece is total, that's TOTAL, and the enthusiastic playing he coaxes from the Hollywood Bowl musicians is truly mesmerizing. Recordings of this musical quality do not come around every day and quite simply, it is something to savor. The Prelude makes a nice little coda though but, after the whirlwind last movement of the 2nd, you might want to leave it at that.
Music making like this makes me so thankful that my hearing loss is not worse than it is.
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