Great music from a gerat orchestra
5
By vader_is_back
During his 40 years at the helm of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy produced a wide variety of recordings, covering even obscure or overlooked music like the 1812 Overture or marche Slave.
His Tchaikovsky 4th may no longer be viewed as top of the line, but when it first came out there was nothing to compare it against and it got acceptable reviews. Even when compared to more modern recordings from the likes of Mravinsky and Karajan, I still prefer this straight forward account by Ormandy. The Philadelphia had top of the line string players, and that is evedent in many of Ormandy's recordings and also here on the Tchaikovsky 4th.
Eugene Ormandy had a fondness for many of the Russian and Slavic compositions, and his style of conducting featuring moderate no frills tempos was perfectly suited to the music. Some may find a moderate tempo with no frills to be a bit dull or boring, but if done correctly can still result in a great peformance. Just look at his Rimsky-Korsakov or Shostakovich for good examples of this.
The 1812 overture on this disc is my second favorite after Dorati's version, but the opening vocal by the Morman Tabernacle choir (in place of the opening string playing) makes Ormandy's account unique. On top of that, Ormandy made live sound recordings of actual US military cannons and artilery blasting away and then played it on a record during the performance, furhther enhancing the quality of his 1812 overture. Did I mention the Valley Forge Military band under D. Keith Feltham collaborated with Ormandy on the 1812 overture?
The Marche Slave is a good performance (not great), and some might even consider it better than the 1812 overture, but its mainly a filler on this disc, as the real reason for getting the disc is the Tchaikovsky 4th.
In review, I highly recommend this disc.
