[Stephen McElroy]

In article ,
Jenn wrote:

In article ,
Steven Sullivan wrote:


His orchestral arrangements/recordings of JS Bach's Toccata & Fugue
in D minor, and Debussy's 'Engulfed Cathedral' are guilty pleasures
of mine.

There's no doubt that "Stokie" was a fine musician, as well as a supreme
egotist and control freak, even for conductors of his generation, which
is REALLY going a ways!

The question of his arrangements is always a popular subject when
discussing his work. In my view (which is fairly common), there's
nothing wrong with arranging the work of a master, as long as it is
stated that it's an arrangement (or "edition"). With the Bach, he did
so state. With others, he didn't, which is too bad. For example, when
he first performed and composed some works by Percy Grainger, he didn't
state that they were arrangements, which really shocked the composer, of
course. After heated discussion, Grainger went along with LS's
arrangements, but demanded that they were identified in program notes
and liner notes that they were indeed arrangements.

It was also a time when Kreisler and others could compose pieces and
attribute them to dead masters.

My Stokie story is from the American Symphony: the celeste was
under-pitch, earning the keyboardist Stokie's glare. Once more, in tune!
The celeste's pitch is fixed and can't be adjusted quickly. The player's
solution was to raise a shoulder as he played, 'raising' the pitch.

Stephen