in 1968, Leopold Stokowski and the American Symphony Orchestra, which he had founded six years earlier, gave the opening concert of the Madison Square Gardens new building in New York City. Cameras were on hand to film one of the rehearsals and we see Stokowski exhorting his players to give him more tone ("piu, piu") in the celebrated Barber 'Adagio for Strings.' He was alone among the great conductors of the past who insisted on "free bowing" in the string sections, so that the players' up and down bows should all be different to each other. This method produced the famous "Stokowski String Sound" and achieved a seamless legato, particularly in slow music. It should also be noted that Stokowski was 85 years old at the time this film was made and he was still conducting almost as vigorously ten years later at the age of 95!
27 авг 2024
