There have been other recordings of Leopold Stokowski's transcriptions of music of Mussorgsky, later recordings by Matthias Bamert, and, naturally, many recordings by Stokowski himself. But while the Stokowski true believer would not want to part with any of the Maestro's recordings, the neophyte might want to try something a little fresher. And while no one could say a word against Bamert's immensely muscular performances with the BBC Philharmonic, anyone would have to say that these performances by José Serebrier with the ...
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There have been other recordings of Leopold Stokowski's transcriptions of music of Mussorgsky, later recordings by Matthias Bamert, and, naturally, many recordings by Stokowski himself. But while the Stokowski true believer would not want to part with any of the Maestro's recordings, the neophyte might want to try something a little fresher. And while no one could say a word against Bamert's immensely muscular performances with the BBC Philharmonic, anyone would have to say that these performances by José Serebrier with the Bournemouth Symphony are undeniably better. Part of the reason is that Serebrier was a Stokowski protégé and his performances have the intensity of the true believer. But a larger part of the reason is that Serebrier, while clearly a conductor in the swashbuckling Stokowski mold, is a more concentrated conductor, a more colorful conductor, and, ultimately a more charismatic conductor than Bamert in this repertoire. Serebrier's interpretations are not slavish copies of his master's...
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