Ormandy: Bartok Concerto for Orchestra - Columbia Masterworks MS 6626, NM
$15.00 USD
Jacket NM / LP NM
This beautiful LP – a superb collector’s copy – from Columbia Masterworks (MS 6626, US pressing, gray “360 Sound” label, stereo) features Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra’s high-octane account of Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra Sz. 116, sumptuously recorded at Town Hall, Philadelphia, on 13 October 1963 (producer: Thomas Frost).
This was the second of three commerical recordings Ormandy would make of this work, very much a specialty of his. Comparisons with Reiner and the mighty Chicago Symphony Orchestra are not to Ormandy’s disadvantage and he and the a “Fabulous Philadelphians” bring a dynamism and chrome-plated, gleaming sound to this score that is breathtaking.
The exact track list is as follows:
A1 |
Andante non troppo - Allegro vivace |
9:52 |
|
A2 |
Giuoco delle coppie: Allegretto scherzando |
6:55 |
|
B1 |
Elegia: Andante non troppo |
6:53 |
|
B2 |
Intermezzo interrotto - Allegretto |
4:34 |
|
B3 |
Finale: Pesante - Presto |
9:06 |
Incidentally, there are superb liner notes on the reverse side of the jacket by Herbert Reid, printed in English only. On the back side of the jacket it states: “Cover photo of the Philadelphia Orchestra taken by remote camera from the ceiling of Philharmonic Hall, Lincoln Center, by Don Hunstein and Sandy Speiser.