Henry Wood was anything but understated in his orchestration endeavors, and for those who find
Leopold Stokowski's orchestrations of similar repertoire lacking in color and excitement,
Wood's are the ones to hear. To say they are extravagant in their employment of the full panoply of the modern symphony orchestra is to enormously understate the case. He employs a mammoth orchestra in Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, adds organ and bells to
Chopin's Funeral March, includes camel bells in Mussorgsky's "Bydlo" from Pictures at an Exhibition, and adds enormous organ pedal notes to
Rachmaninov's Prélude in C sharp minor,
Debussy's La cathédrale engloutie, and, most memorably, at the ultimate cosmic climax of "The Great Gates of Kiev." Played with admirable skill and enormous gusto by
Braithwaite and the
London Philharmonic, these arrangements may outrage purists but they'll delight connoisseurs. The distinctive English label Lyrita had always been known for its cool, clear, colorful sound, and these stereo recordings made in the early years of the digital era are as deep and detailed as any ever made.