Stokowski & Philadelphia Orch. Dvorak New World Sym (Victor 6 disc set)

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67

You are bidding on a 6 disc set of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Leopold Stokowski playing Dvorak's New World Symphony (listed on the sleeve as symphony number #5, today known as Dvorak's 9th.) This set is listed as Victrola set M-1 with the symphony comprising discs 6565-A through 6569-B (10 sides total.) What makes this set different is that it was released in 1927, with an extra disc containing commentary from Leopold Stokowski on the main themes of the symphony with piano accompaniment. This disc is labelled  Victrola 6743. Please see notes below concerning this set (information gathered from the internet.) I believe that these discs contain the 1927 recording of the symphony.. see reasoning below.

1927 - Dvorak - Symphony no 9 in e minor opus 95 "From the New World" 

Following the Franck Symphony, which had been recorded Monday and Tuesday 3 and 4 October 1927, on Wednesday and Saturday, 5 and 8 October 1927, Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra recorded the Dvorak - Symphony no 9 in e minor opus 95 "From the New World".  This was a re-recording of the Dvorak Symphony no 9 which he had recorded just two years previously among his first electrical recordings in May of 1925.The 1925 recording was a success, both artistically and as to album sales.  However, it would seem that Stokowski realized that with the improved recording system now installed in the Academy of Music, and with his new understanding of how to gain the best results from the electrical recording process, a new, improved recording was now called for.  The remarkable results proved him to be correct. 

What more is there to say about this famous 1927 recording, so often praised over the years?  Its sound is excellent, and the performance is thrilling.  This excellent recording seems to me the most satisfying of the six commercial recordings Stokowski made of the New World.  This recording was made on Wednesday and Saturday, 5 and 8 October 1927, just before the orchestra's Autumn subscription concert schedule began.  

The 1927 Dvorak - Symphony no 9 replaces the 1925 recording in M-1 

In the description of the 1925 "From the New World", we saw that in 1926, the Victor Talking Machine Company began to package disk sets into albums, each having the title of "Victor Musical Masterpiece".  This series of albums continued from 1926 to 1951, an impressive achievement.  As we saw, the first album in the Victor Musical Masterpiece series in 1926 was Victor Musical Masterpiece M-1 album containing the 1925 Stokowski - Philadelphia recording of the Dvorak Symphony no 9 in e minor opus 95 "From the New World".  These five Victor 12 inch (30cm) Red Seal disks, catalog numbers Victor 6565, 6566, 6567, 6568, 6569 were placed in the first M-1 album.  Then, somewhat confusingly, the new October, 1927 recording of this work was also placed in a Victor Musical Masterpiece album and again numbered M-1.  To add to the potential confusion, the individual 1927 disks were given the identical Victor catalog numbers: Victor 6565, 6566, 6567, 6568, and 6569.  However, it is only necessary to listen to the disks to immediately know which is which.  Gone is the 1925 tuba and the bass saxophone reinforcement of the string basses.  Also, we have the ambiance and sense of a hall in the 1927 Academy of Music recording, instead of the 'dead' acoustics of the Victor studio in Camden Building no 15.  

As we have seen, another important Stokowski innovation in his large-scale 1927 recordings was the inclusion of a "talk side" in which Stokowski analyzes and illustrates the principal themes of the album's music.  

In this 1927 Dvorak "talk side", Stokowski analyzes the symphony, and Artur Rodzinski, at that time the assistant conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, plays the musical illustrations on the piano.  This analysis is also interesting.  To our ears today, some may judge this Stokowski commentary to be seem superficial and exaggerated ("...the end is like a blood-red sunset...").  However, we should recall that for many listeners, this may have been their first hearing of this symphony.  In fact, in this era before talking movies, and before wide-spread radio broadcasting of concerts, this recording might have been a listener's first hearing of any symphony played by a symphony orchestra.  Most people lived at a distance from the dozen or so US cities having a symphony orchestra which would provide any opportunity for most listeners to hear such a symphony.