6 September 2023

Saygun - Yunus Emre - Stokowski

 



Here 2 of the rarest Stoky recordings I have. 
A veeeeery old post reuploaded on request (and sorry for the delay).

Ahmed Adnan Saygun (7 September 1907 - 6 January 1991)  composer, musicologist and writer on music, is acknowledged as one of the most important composers in Turkish music history.

His works are rooted in Western musical practice; yet they incorporate traditional Turkish folk songs and culture. He usually adds this folk element by picking one note out of the scale and weaves a melody around it using a Turkish mode. His  output includes five symphonies, five operas, two piano concertos, concertos for violin, viola and cello, and a wide range of chamber and choral works. The London Times called him "the grand old man of Turkish music, who was to his country what Jean Sibelius is to Finland, what Manuel de Falla is to Spain, and what Béla Bartók is to Hungary."

Sincerely I ignore if this tape contains the entire performance - no applause at the end - but according to wiki "is an hour-long work" (and here the duration is 58.35):

"Saygun's international acclaim flourished with his oratorio Yunus Emre in 1946. This is an hour-long work written for four vocal soloists, a full chorus and full orchestra that sets a number of poems by the 13th century Anatolian mystic poet Yunus Emre. This work captures Yunus Emre's legacy with the use of Turkish modes and folk melodies, although it is written in the post-romantic style. Since its premiere in Ankara in 1947, the oratorio has been translated into five languages and performed worldwide, including a performance in English at the United Nations led by conductor Leopold Stokowski with the NBC Symphony Orchestra in 1958. This same year he won the Stella della Solidarietà and the Jean Sibelius composition awards".


In theme of oddities, as fill-up for an hypotetical CD  I propose a coupling with the Concerto for Theremin & Orchestra by Anis Fuleihan (1900 - 1970), a Cypriot-born American composer, conductor and pianist.  The orchestra is not (as frequently indicated for this recording) the NYPO, but the NY City SO.

"In 1944, on the recommendation of Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, Stokowski helped form the New York City Symphony Orchestra, which they intended would make music accessible for middle-class workers. Ticket prices were set low, and performances took place at convenient, after-work hours. Many early concerts were standing room only; however, a year later in 1945, the board wanted to trim expenses even further and Stoky resigned. Stokowski made three 78pm sets with the New York City Symphony for RCA: Beethoven's 6th Symphony, Richard Strauss's Death and Transfiguration, and a selection of orchestral music from Georges Bizet's Carmen".



Ahmed Adnan Saygun (1907-1991)
"Yunus Emre" oratorio op.26

Janice Harsanyi
Carol Wolf
James Wainner
Scott Gibson

Crane Chorus of the Potsdam State University
Symphony of the Air
LEOPOLD STOKOWSKI
Live - New York, United Nations - 25/11/58


ANIS FULEIHAN (1900-1970)
Concerto for Theremin and Orchestra
(1st world performance)

Clara Rockmore, theremin
New York City Symphony
LEOPOLD STOKOWSKI
Live - February 1945
(with announcements)

 FLAC





3 comments:

Guido said...

https://www.mediafire.com/file/9fxeh4tpilo2xo4/STOKSAYGUN.zip/file

Grover Gardner said...

Amazing! Thank you!

Burtw47 said...

Interesting combination.

In 2004 The Central Bank of Turkey issued a double CD which was available for free, including two different performances of Yunus Emre.
The first one was under the direction of Rengim Gökmen, the second one under Leopold Stokowski who in 1958 conducted the Symphony of the Air.
Stokowski's performance took 58.37, so that your recording is complete, Guido.
Rengim Gökmen's was slower: 63.47 mins.

The Fuleihan Theremin Concerto has been issued in 2000 on the English label Symposium. The CD was called Ionisation and it included recordings of Toscanini, Slonimsky, Elgar, Sibelius (conducting his own Andante Festivo), Wood, Stokowski and Furtwängler.