Eugene Ormandy - The Fantastic Philadelphians

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Music reviews of The Fantastic Philadelphians

Music Review: Ormandy and Philadelphia Going Through the Motions
Rating: 3 Stars

Despite my ardor for the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy (please, God, gave us from Sawallisch!), during a period of time in the early 1970's, there were a number of his performances which I find fall below his usual high standards (especially the RCA Red Seal releases of Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony [I much prefer the Columbia Masterworks 1959 recording] and Swan Lake excerpts). These recordings have the beautiful tonal sheen typical of the "Philadelphia Sound," but Ormandy's tempo is painfully dragging; it sounds as though he's on valium in these recordings.

The Fantastic Philadelphians falls within the same company; These are showpieces, but I couldn't detect any of the fire that
Ormandy lent to other recordings from this era (particularly his 1968 recording of Tchaikovsky's Pathetique Symphony and his 1973 recording of Rachmaninoff's Second Symphony). The sound is gorgeous, but the pacing so slow that it sounds as though Ormandy doesn't care about these pieces, as though he's just trying to get through the recording sessions.

However, there is a glimpse of Ormandy's incendiary potential in the Russian Sailors' Dance and Hungarian Dance No. 5, but instead of a raging flame, all that's there is the pilot light. With all of the excellent unavailable Ormandy recordings out there, I do not understand why BMG chose to release this disc as their first Ormandy entry in the "High Performance" series. I would have much preferred to have seen them release his 1978 recording (the first digital recording made by RCA) of Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra or all of the Sibelius recordings languishing in BMG vaults (especially Symphony No. 7 [1975] and Tapiola [1976]) or his peerless recording of Dvorak's Eighth Symphony (1977). But, then again, BMG's neglect of Ormandy is documented and endemic. For example: BMG has released his recordings of Sibelius' First (1978) and Fifth (1975) Symphonies, both tremendously subtle and profound recordings, but not in North America. They are only out on their European "RCA Classical Navigator" series, and I had to order the CD from an online British store.

Back to this disc: If what you want is to hear great classical showpieces, beautifully recorded and played, to hear as
background music, then buy this disc -- it is not without merit. But if you want to *actively* listen to these pieces, skip this one; Ormandy and the Philadelphians are on auto-pilot on this one.

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