Haines Logo Text
Column Archive
July 20, 2014:

MR. ORMANDY AND THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, for me it was always Mr. Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra, right from the very beginning.  My goodness, what kind of an opening sentence is THAT?  But it’s true, you see, and it’s high and low time that everyone damn well knows it.  So, let’s start at the very beginning which is, after all, a very good place to start.  Back in junior high school (now it’s middle school – and why is that exactly?), in the eighth grade I had a music appreciation class where I learned music appreciation.  Of course I already appreciated music of many kinds and had since I was a wee bairn back in the Middle Ages.  My teacher was named Mr. Williamson (in Kritzerland I gave him his real name).  The first piece of music he played for us was called The Moldau by Bedrich Smetana.  He had us close our eyes and listen, so we could just let the music wash over us and conjure up whatever it conjured up.  That was something I’d already done on my own and I’ve continued to do it ever since.  At that time, I don’t really think I’d heard any classical music, except perhaps Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.  It was new territory for me and the minute I heard the first strains of The Moldau my mind immediately pictured a river or flowing water – later we were told that the Moldau was, in fact, a river.  I would, much later, find that Smetana finished composing the piece on December 8 – my birthday.  Well, I fell in love with The Moldau and when I got home that evening I told my mother I had to have it for school.  So, off we went to a record store in Beverly Hills, Chesterfield Records to be exact.  The nice person behind the counter asked what we were looking for and I told him – he took us to the classical section and pulled out some recording of it.  But I’d already found out which version had been played in our class and I would settle for no other.  I think the nice man was somewhat taken aback when my young self told him I only wanted the version by Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra.  He found that but told us it was in mono – had never been issued in stereo.  But I didn’t really know from stereo yet and wouldn’t for another year.  So, we bought it, and I played it over and over and over – it was just so beautiful (that version has never been issued on CD as far as I know).  I also played the other music on the album, but none of the other pieces “spoke” to me like The Moldau.  I’d listen, I’d stare at the cover, look at the beautiful shot of the river and also at Mr. Ormandy, and I’d read the liner notes time and time again.  Here’s the cover.

moldau

Now, they say your first always stays with you.  So, whenever I wanted to sample a classical recording, I would always go to the store and look through the albums and invariably if there was a version of what I wanted that was conducted by Mr. Ormandy with the Philadelphia Orchestra on Columbia I bought it instantly.  I discovered so many wonderful pieces of music via Mr. Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra and those recordings, to my ears, always sounded beautiful, especially when I began buying stereo recordings when I got my very first Columbia House Stereophonic Record Player.  Even into the 1970s it was always Mr. Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra.  I remember buying a two LP set of Gershwin music – Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra with pianist Philippe Entremont.  That was the way I discovered the Piano Concerto in F, which I loved.  I have heard many, many versions since and not a one of them is a patch on the buttcheeks of that brilliant Columbia recording.

I took out the CD of it (it’s one of those Essential Classics things from Sony) – the complete Gershwin album has never been released on CD – and I was not thrilled at all with the sound I heard – I could not believe that was the recording I’d fallen in love with that sounded so amazing.  But last week, I found there was a new box set of all Mr. Entremont’s recordings with Columbia, so I bought it and have now listened to several of the CDs (I think there are nineteen in all) and happily these new remasters are exactly as they should be – from the first generation master tapes, sounding as amazing as they always did.  So, I’ve been going through this marvelous set – it’s not all Ormandy, but a lot of it is, and those are my favorites.  I’ve listened to the Grieg Piano Concerto in A minor, to the Ravel in G, the Gershwin, Nights in the Garden of Spain and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini by Rachmaninov.  They are unsurpassed in their beauty, I must say.  Listening to this stuff sounding this good is like taking a Time Machine back to my younger years.  So, a big thank you to Mr. Williamson for introducing me to classical music and Mr. Ormandy, and big thanks to Mr. Ormandy and Mr. Entremont for their brilliant work together.  This set, available on amazon for about three bucks a disc is highly recommended by the likes of me.  All the CDs are in replicas of the original LP jackets, which I love.  As they say on eBay, Buy it Now.

Yesterday was a day that ambled by, although I did do work.  I only got six hours of sleep, I did a two-mile jog, then met our very own Mr. Doug Haverty at the Kansas City Barbecue, which has inexplicably modernized the inside of their jernt so that it is cold and lifeless and changed their name to The Barbecue Bar, which just makes me want to stay very far away.  I did see one of the folks I’ve seen there over the years and he assured me all the food was the same.  But gone were the plastic squeeze bottles of sauce and the wooden tables with the plastic gingham tablecloths, replaced with steel tables of great ugliness.  Sadly, my brisket sandwich had way too much fatty bits for my taste and they brought the sauce in little cups so that we had to keep having them bring more.  The baked beans were great, as always, and Doug’s baby back ribs really did look good.  I just don’t understand why they would change their whole vibe that they’ve had for years.  These people never seem to understand that the vibe is why we came there.  Perhaps they are under new ownership.  I’ll give it another try at some point, but it was really my first disappointing experience there.

After that, I picked up one package, then came home.  I then spent about an hour listening to the first half of And the World Goes Round, our final mixes.  I took a few notes of things to adjust, but it really did sound very good, and the adjustments are quite minor and usually involve wayward noises on a couple of tracks.  Then I sat on my couch like so much fish.

Yesterday, I watched a motion picture entitled Red.  As you know, I watched a motion picture entitled Red the day before, but these were entirely different Reds.  Yesterday’s Red starred Bruce Willis, Morgan Fairchild, John Malkovich, Richard Dreyfuss, Helen Mirren and Mary-Louise Parker.  It’s a rather silly film, but I found it great fun and really quite enjoyable.  It’s the usual thing about former CIA retired folks trying to be killed off and them getting together and striking back.  The actors are clearly having a great time, the pace is very fast and I have to say that Mary-Louise Parker brings such heart and charm to the film that she alone is reason enough to watch.  I have been a huge fan of hers since I first saw here on Broadway in Prelude to a Kiss at the Helen Hayes Theater.  I saw her in several films, always very good, and then again on Broadway in Proof.  I’ve never seen her series Weeds because the subject matter doesn’t interest me, but it was really fun to see her digging into a terrific role.  I’ll now have to watch Red 2, which is also supposed to be fun.

After that, I listened to the second half of And the World Goes Round – less notes for that half and all sounding really good.  But I’m still not thrilled with about ten-percent of the album and I’ve put in my bid to go do one additional hour in the studio with our excellent musicians – it would involve pieces of four numbers – just fixing some ragged playing.  I can live with it as is, but I’m hoping we can do it so I can be 100% satisfied, which is my wont and my want.  The performances by all five cast members are really wonderful.

I went to Gelson’s and got a tiny bit of mac-and-cheese for a snack, came home, and watched a documentary of Netflix, about the 1970s and 80s exploitation movies shot in the Philippines by Roger Corman’s company and others.  It’s actually a very witty documentary with some great interviews with many of the actresses and some of the directors.  After that, I began listening to the Ormandy/Entremont CDs, which was very pleasurable.

I also had a great e-mail volley with a film composer that I’ve recently discovered and whose music I just really think is swell – a film composer of today that actually knows how to write real melodies.  Anyway, we’ll be putting out two of his scores in the next couple of months and if they do well, we’ll do more.

Today, I will do a jog, I’ll eat, and I’ll relax.  I’ve been invited to see a play in the evening, but I probably won’t go since I have to be up at six on Monday morning to announce our new CDs.

Tomorrow we announce our new CDs, and then the week is filled with meetings and meals and seeing a few shows, writing the Kritzerland commentary, which I’ll actually try to get done today, and various and sundried other things.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, eat, write, and relax.  Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them.  So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I continue my enjoyable trip down memory lane with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Search BK's Notes Archive:
 
© 2001 - 2024 by Bruce Kimmel. All Rights Reserved