Stokowski conducts 'The Raven' - Edgar Allan Poe, orch. Arcady Dubensky; Benjamin de Loache, speaker
The Russian-born Arcady Dubensky moved to America in 1921 and pursued a career both as violinist and composer. His music attracted the attention of Leopold Stokowski who premiered a number of his works. One of them was a Melo-Declamation for Narrator and Orchestra on Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven." This macabre poem, to which Dubensky added a dramatic musical accompaniment, had brought its author considerable fame on its publication in 1845.
It was during its first two performances in December 1932 that RCA Victor experimented in recording the work on 35mm optical film. The result was two 10" 78rpm disc issued as special "Picture Records" with each side featuring monochrome engravings etched into the shellac. One featured Stokowski, another showed Poe surveying the raven, and the other two sides printed the poem itself.
The narrator was Benjamin de Loache, then a 26-year-old baritone who had already appeared in several of Stokowski's performances, including the US Premiere of Schoenberg's "Gurrelieder" where he took the role of the Speaker. The present recording of "The Raven" comes from a Cala CD, entitled "Philadelphia Rarities" and reissued by Signum Records, which also includes works by Harl McDonald, Henry Eichheim and Joaquin Turina.
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