Magical Conductor-His Greatest Recordings 1945-60

Opinions about Stokowski, who influenced the American concert scene in the 20th century as virtually no other conductor, with the possible exception of Leonard Bernstein, ranged from ''genius'' to ''charlatan''.
Born in London, the son of a Polish father and Scottish mother, educated in Berlin, Munich, Paris and London and at first an organist and choir master, Stokowski became the first media star to take the conductor's rostrum. His marriages among others with Evangeline, the daughter of a founder of Johnson & Johnson, and the society star Gloria Vanderbilt as well as his supposed Roman affair with the famous Greta Garbo, star of the silver screen, caused as many headlines as his acoustic experiments. These included different placements of orchestral musicians and his arrangements of classical works, especially those of J.S.Bach, intended to increase their impact. His unconditional support for contemporary composers and the quality of the recordings he left to posterity, meeting as they did the highest expectations, ensure Stokowski the justified fame as one of the most eminent interpreters of his century. The collection presented in this 10-CD box serves as an impressive document showing that he had lost nothing of his freshness and musical temperament even in his seventh decade.