Stokowski Rehearsal - Rachmaninoff 'Paganini Rhapsody' - Jerome Lowenthal, piano

In February 1968, Leopold Stokowski and his American Symphony Orchestra gave the opening concert in the new Madison Square Garden building. The programme included Beethoven's 'Leonore' Overture No. 3, Barber's 'Adagio for Strings' and Rachmaninoff's 'Paganini Rhapsody' with Jerome Lowenthal at the piano. Television cameras were on hand for one of the rehearsals and material was provided for two programmes. One consisted of just rehearsal excerpts and the other was a documentary entitled "Stokowski at 88."

In this segment we see Stokowski rehearsing Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini," a work he and the composer had premiered in 1934, making the first recording shortly thereafter. What will probably astonish the viewer are some of Stokowski's tempos. These are much faster than those he adopted on the composer's own recording and it is a tribute to Jerome Lowenthal that he manages to keep up with the conductor's hell-for-leather speeds! It is possible that Stokowski had his eye on the clock and that rehearsal time was running short, causing him to put the accelerator on to avoid going into expensive overtime. Not only were the aforementioned works on the programme but so too were Schubert's 'Unfinished' Symphony, a Bach transcription and Ravel's 'Bolero'! On the other hand, if the same tempos were adopted in the concert then both soloist and conductor must have agreed that this was the way the piece should go!

Also up loaded here are other rehearsal excerpts, from the Beethoven 'Leonore' Overture and Barber's 'Adagio for Strings.'

Видео Stokowski Rehearsal - Rachmaninoff 'Paganini Rhapsody' - Jerome Lowenthal, piano канала adam28xx