Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Photo courtesy of University Musical Society, Ann Arbor District Library.
In Monday’s (6/23) WRTI (Philadelphia), Bruce Hodges writes, “Eugene Ormandy’s recordings were ubiquitous. Whether for Rachmaninoff or dozens of other composers, he and the Philadelphia Orchestra were omnipresent … Some of this was due to restlessness from Columbia Records, which was eager to take advantage of the recent dawn of stereo technology, and the subsequent appetite it fostered…. Now a sumptuous, staggering new box of recordings has emerged, with 94 examples of Ormandy’s work from 1964 to 1983 with The Philadelphia Orchestra…. The Columbia Stereo Collection: 1964-1983 — coming on the heels of a slightly smaller box covering 1958 through 1963 … confirms that, during those 19 years, he and the musicians produced many of the classical music world’s most cherished documents…. Some of these performances are making their debuts in the CD format, such as two Haydn symphonies (Nos. 96 and 101), Bach’s St. John’s Passion, Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphosis, Schubert’s Sixth Symphony, and excerpts from Massenet’s opera Le Cid…. Listening to Shostakovich’s Fifth and Tenth symphonies, I’m struck by the white-hot virtuosity, which belies some impressions of Ormandy as a maestro more on the genteel side…. A spirited reading of Ives’ Three Places in New England also comes as a revelation.”
