I sang with the Rutgers Choir doing Alexandre Nevsky with the Maestro and his American Symphony! Such a treat. At the end of the first rehearsal, after most had left the stage, he was still seated, waiting for his helper to come and take him off, I approached him and holding out my score said, "Maestro, may I have your autograph, please?" He smiled and said, "Young man, I'm much too old to give autographs, but I will shake your hand." Which he did! Years later, watching Fantasia with my 2 young children, I said, "Kids, what do your father and Micky Mouse have in common?" They said they didn't know. I said, "Well, we both got to shake hands with Leopold Stokowski, the man leading that orchestra on the screen." I'm so glad he didn't give me his autograph!
The world's greatest conductor ever. Intimate. Feeling. Perfection. One of a kind. An innovator. Visionary. Just extraordinary genius. His recordings are a legacy never to be equalled.
Some have had the stupidity & audacity to make fun of his diction & speech mannerism, but look at his name-!! He was a Polish boy born in London but, also spent so many of his formative years in the tight family circle with his Father & Grandad, who, no doubt he admired & just copied & adapted their ways, perfectly normal & natural. He entered a Royal College at 14 yrs old- ( 3yrs below the entrance limit ) This told the world he was a Musical Genius in the making. I had many school chums in the 40's born in England before or during the war, nevertheless tight family circles prevailed & they had English, Irish , Scot's or Welsh accents, & of course displaced war families brought with them Yorkshire, Lanc's, Liverpool,..accents. Again, all perfectly normal & to be expected. In conversation Leo Sto' always listened with studious care to Questions, & spoke always with balanced reason & sincere honest thoughts. A giant amongst men.
Moi aussi. Mais au moins en août 1970 j'étais présent à un concert inoubliable à De Doelen, Rotterdam: Ravel - Franck - Prokofieff. En 2008 j'ai pu participer au CD de ce concert (Medici Arts MM026).
He is a "typical" "aries",... and reminds me a lot of my brother,... mostly leaders, which love to deal with young people, cause there own source of energy, is the same one. They like to handle and experience things directly, without wasting energy, and to switch from one projekt to the next one. By offering their energy to bring something to birth they feel absolutly lively, and this is also the bigest talent and gift to the world. His words: "Let's make it better !!!" means: Don't leave (and repead) things as they are. Try and do it better. Take a different perspektive, and then start it new. Like : STOP.... LOOK.... GO (but in a better way) To: Make the world a better place, each one on his / her place! So, thanks to the energy of the "aries", and all the others (like the variety of these orchestra instruments), which do wonderful things in a different but also important way. If there's somebody asking himself, why i write like this, i will respond that i was born as a "fish", so I'm very interested in to understand this choas inside and outside of me, and the book which gives me the best answer wasn't the bibel, but this one: The medicine wheel (by Sun Bear) ☸️🗝️
Serious. Completely involved. He's not thinking about contracts, celebrity, the Green Room. He's only thinking about communication -- through music. Always radical.
Left player plays upbow, right player downbow. And it sounds like it has to sound. That' s it: doing all what is necessary to make it sound well. Not to make it look well. Of course it looks nice if all strings play in the same part and direction, and it will also sound well. But it' s not always necessary for the music. And there are so many other details that are REALLY important for the music.
I disagree. RCA recorded Arthur Rubinstein, and did a lousy job: they never captured his wonderful sound. Decca made some excellent recordings of George Szell - listen to Tchiakowsky 4th with the LSO. Same with Horowitz: the best recordings were with CBS, not RCA, in my opinion. Fortunately, Horowitz was with CBS during his very best years, after his carnegie hall recital in 1965.
So Stokowski said that the conductor should strive to reproduce what the composer felt and wanted to communicate when he put the notes down on paper. Obviously that's hipocrisy, as in 1929, when recording the second Rachmaninoff concerto, he had to deal with the composer himself and argued fiercely with him about the interpretation. So Stokowski was only concerned with his own idea of the work, and he even wanted to impose his will on the composer!
I sang with the Rutgers Choir doing Alexandre Nevsky with the Maestro and his American Symphony! Such a treat. At the end of the first rehearsal, after most had left the stage, he was still seated, waiting for his helper to come and take him off, I approached him and holding out my score said, "Maestro, may I have your autograph, please?" He smiled and said, "Young man, I'm much too old to give autographs, but I will shake your hand." Which he did! Years later, watching Fantasia with my 2 young children, I said, "Kids, what do your father and Micky Mouse have in common?" They said they didn't know. I said, "Well, we both got to shake hands with Leopold Stokowski, the man leading that orchestra on the screen." I'm so glad he didn't give me his autograph!
Thank you very much for this very nice reaction!
Beautiful story.
Must have been the 24 February 1964 Carnegie Hall concert, of which I have a fine 80-minute rehearsal recording of Alexander Nevsky. Interested?
@@burtw4769 Absolutely! What’s the plan?
@@ChipNoon I can send you the recording via WeTransfer. No problem. The only thing I need is your mail address.
The world's greatest conductor ever. Intimate. Feeling. Perfection. One of a kind. An innovator. Visionary. Just extraordinary genius. His recordings are a legacy never to be equalled.
An extraordinary musician and a great, great conductor. He 'lets them play', but demands precision as well - a rare combination.
Brilliant! Gould and Stokowski a great pair.
I saw this in 1970, never thought I'd see it again. Thanks for posting!
Leopold! Leopold!! Leopold!!!
L- L-LIAPOLD!!😮
Some have had the stupidity & audacity to make fun of his diction & speech mannerism, but look at his name-!! He was a Polish boy born in London but, also spent so many of his formative years in the tight family circle with his Father & Grandad, who, no doubt he admired & just copied & adapted their ways, perfectly normal & natural. He entered a Royal College at 14 yrs old- ( 3yrs below the entrance limit ) This told the world he was a Musical Genius in the making. I had many school chums in the 40's born in England before or during the war, nevertheless tight family circles prevailed & they had English, Irish , Scot's or Welsh accents, & of course displaced war families brought with them Yorkshire, Lanc's, Liverpool,..accents. Again, all perfectly normal & to be expected. In conversation Leo Sto' always listened with studious care to Questions, & spoke always with balanced reason & sincere honest thoughts. A giant amongst men.
A truly unique musician
This video deserves mooooreeee views!
Thanks for this! Essential viewing for any Stokowski fan.
Glad you posted the remembrance.
thank you very much for posting this realy rare stoki docu
J'aurai tant souhaité le rencontrer ...
Moi aussi. Mais au moins en août 1970 j'étais présent à un concert inoubliable à De Doelen, Rotterdam: Ravel - Franck - Prokofieff. En 2008 j'ai pu participer au CD de ce concert (Medici Arts MM026).
He is a "typical" "aries",... and reminds me a lot of my brother,... mostly leaders, which love to deal with young people, cause there own source of energy, is the same one.
They like to handle and experience things directly, without wasting energy, and to switch from one projekt to the next one.
By offering their energy to bring something to birth they feel absolutly lively, and this is also the bigest talent and gift to the world.
His words:
"Let's make it better !!!"
means:
Don't leave (and repead) things as they are.
Try and do it better.
Take a different perspektive, and then start it new.
Like : STOP.... LOOK.... GO
(but in a better way)
To:
Make the world a better place,
each one on his / her place!
So, thanks to the energy of
the "aries",
and all the others (like the variety of these orchestra instruments), which do wonderful things in a different but also important way.
If there's somebody asking himself, why i write like this,
i will respond that i was born as a "fish", so I'm very interested in to understand this choas inside and outside of me,
and the book which gives me the best answer wasn't the bibel, but this one:
The medicine wheel (by Sun Bear) ☸️🗝️
Serious. Completely involved. He's not thinking about contracts, celebrity, the Green Room. He's only thinking about communication -- through music. Always radical.
Legend!
Cool telephone
Leopold!!
Stoky and I have ond thing in common: we prefer rehearsals to performance!
Left player plays upbow, right player downbow. And it sounds like it has to sound.
That' s it: doing all what is necessary to make it sound well. Not to make it look well. Of course it looks nice if all strings play in the same part and direction, and it will also sound well. But it' s not always necessary for the music. And there are so many other details that are REALLY important for the music.
Don't know why he preferred Decca recordings over RCA. I would do it the other way.
I disagree. RCA recorded Arthur Rubinstein, and did a lousy job: they never captured his wonderful sound. Decca made some excellent recordings of George Szell - listen to Tchiakowsky 4th with the LSO. Same with Horowitz: the best recordings were with CBS, not RCA, in my opinion. Fortunately, Horowitz was with CBS during his very best years, after his carnegie hall recital in 1965.
Was he a violinist? Or just a fan?
He could play the violin, but wasn't a violinist (the organ was his main instrument iirc)
So Stokowski said that the conductor should strive to reproduce what the composer felt and wanted to communicate when he put the notes down on paper. Obviously that's hipocrisy, as in 1929, when recording the second Rachmaninoff concerto, he had to deal with the composer himself and argued fiercely with him about the interpretation. So Stokowski was only concerned with his own idea of the work, and he even wanted to impose his will on the composer!