Leopold Stokowski

It has been suggested that Stokowski resigned abruptly at Cincinnati with the hidden knowledge that the conducting position in Philadelphia was his when he wanted it or as Oscar Levant suggested in his book A Smattering of Ignorance "he had the contract in his back pocket. He made a series of Symphony of the Air recordings for the United Artists label in 1958 which included Beethoven's 7th Symphony Shostakovich's 1st Symphony Khatchaturian's 2nd Symphony and Respighi's The Pines of Rome. Schonberg was not overly enthusiastic about them even going so far as to say in his book Facing the Music that it was wrong to prefer Stokowski's Bach to the real thing.

Stokowski who made his official conducting debut in 1909 appeared in public for the last time in 1975 but continued making recordings until June 1977 a few months before his death at the age of 95. In America Stokowski performed with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra the Philadelphia Orchestra the NBC Symphony Orchestra New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra the Houston Symphony Orchestra the Symphony of the Air and many others.