Although Nikolai Lopatnikoff was highly respected by his peers and his scores were performed by such renowned conductors as Reiner, Koussevitzky, and Stokowski, little of his music is extant outside the 78s and LPs released in his lifetime. This 2004 CD from the Pierian Recording Society helps redress the problem, though it is taken from old analog sources and only points up the absence of newer digital recordings and Lopatnikoff's obscurity. The live 1945 recording of the Concerto for violin and orchestra, Op. 26 (1941), ...
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Although Nikolai Lopatnikoff was highly respected by his peers and his scores were performed by such renowned conductors as Reiner, Koussevitzky, and Stokowski, little of his music is extant outside the 78s and LPs released in his lifetime. This 2004 CD from the Pierian Recording Society helps redress the problem, though it is taken from old analog sources and only points up the absence of newer digital recordings and Lopatnikoff's obscurity. The live 1945 recording of the Concerto for violin and orchestra, Op. 26 (1941), is seriously marred by compression, and the sound is so dim that violinist Joseph Fuchs is sometimes barely audible. The National Orchestral Association, led by Leon Barzin, is hard to make out, except for the thudding basses and percussion crashes in the loudest passages. The Symphony No. 3, Op. 35 (1953-1954), fares better, for the 1960 tapes are much clearer than the shellacs used in the Concerto. The NOA, this time directed by John Barnett, delivers a vigorous live performance,...
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