Leopold Stokowski conducted Schubert's 'Unfinished' Symphony for the first time on 7th March 1911 with the Cincinnati Orchestra. He was 28 years old. He conducted it for the last time on 30th September 1973 with the London Philharmonic at the age of 91. Here he is with that same orchestra a few years earlier, on 8th September 1969, performing the work in Croydon's Fairfield Hall. This was in preparation for a recording which he made a few days later. In fact, Stokowski had made the first American recording of Schubert's 8th Symphony with the Philadelphia Orchestra on primitive acoustic 78s in 1924, whereas his last recording of the work was made in Decca's multi-channelled "Phase 4 Stereo" 45 years later when he was aged 87.
Note Stokowski's platform arrangement. He liked to have the basses and cellos ranged across the back, facing the audience, so that the bass lines firmly under-pinned the rest of the orchestra. He also often positioned the winds on the far left when the music required antiphony between strings and winds.
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