“Arcady Dubensky (1890-1966) was a Russian composer who left Russia in 1921 and took up a post as violinist in the New York Philharmonic. Stokowski became very interested in Dubensky’s music and gave several of his works their World Premieres. One of these was what Dubensky called “A Melo-Declamation for Narrator and Orchestra on Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven.” This macabre poem had brought Poe instant fame in 1845 and it clearly attracted Dubensky’s attention. His arrangement of the poem was performed twice in December 1932 by the Philadelphia Orchestra and RCA experimented by recording both performances onto 35mm optical film. The result was a pair of 10″ 78rpm “Picture Records” on which were engraved etchings of Poe surveying the malevolent bird, Stokowski himself, and the complete text.” (Edward Johnson)
“Stokie was the only conductor to have performed all of Schoenberg’s orchestral music during the composer’s lifetime. He didn’t play things like Moses and Aaron but what he did play included several World Premieres, several 1st US Performances and works that had already been done by others.
“You Tube has his 1960 Capitol recording of Transfigured Night which was recorded in Manhattan Center with “his Symphony Orchestra.” This was a specially created recording ensemble with the players selected from the New York Philharmonic, the Symphony of the Air and the freelance session pool. Here it is, uploaded at rather a high volume level.” (Edward Johnson)
Schoenberg Piano Concerto – world premiere performance, February 6, 1944 – Eduard Steuermann/NBCSO/Stokowski; “NBC Orchestra’s Radio City Habitat”, New York City