Search - Schubert, Toscanini, NBC :: Arturo Toscanini Collection, Volume 14: Franz Schubert: Symphonies No.8 and No.9

Characteristic Toscanini "Unfinished"; Lower Voltage Ninth

07/18/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"As a life-long collector of Toscanini recordings, I first obtained the 1947 version of the Ninth included in this "official" BMG CD issue, in the "1950 Commemorative Tour" Red Seal LP issue back around 1971. I was then producer of a weekly series of programs of the Toscanini records ("The Phenomenon of Toscanini") and immediately included the performance as an alternative to the better-known 1953 NBC Symphony reading, and the earlier (and greater) Philadelphia Orchestra recording of the early forties. In contrast to the latter two versions, his '40's "remake" of the technically-flawed Philadelphia waxing is achieved with a distinctly lower voltage and intensity. Yet in its way, it lacks some of the overblown rhetoric of the late-career Toscanini 1953 version, and is "simpler" and more direct. The "Compleat Toscaninian" will want to have all 3 in the fine BMG digitizings; the digital transfer is far more transparent than the muddy sonics of the old 1950 LP.The "Unfinished" was an early Toscanini LP recording, made in 1950 in the dry acoustics of NBC Radio's Studio 8H. Yet, the recording is of a clearer, higher fidelity than the companion 78 rpm version of the Ninth; and Toscanini drives the orchestra harder, with crisper attacks and more towering crescendi. One might prefer the more expansive 1939 broadcast, but it is unavailable. This is surely one of the most ascetic and uncongenial editions of the "Unfinished", as Toscanini probably wanted to make a point of eschewing the romanticism and central European langour of other conductors. Lovers of drama and intensity will enjoy it; those who yearn for more soulfulness and repose will be perturbed. The sound quality of the monaural transfer has never been better, and is superior to any previous edition."