Search - Toscanini, NBC :: Arturo Toscanini & NBC Symphony Orchestra Vol. 9

At last, Toscanini to celebrate and revere

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 12/04/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Towards the end of his life Toscanini was more than a great conductor--he was The Maestro in excelsis. I grew up in that era and would sit in awe before his Verdi Requiem and Missa Solemnis, oblivious of the cramped, dry sonics and hard-riding tempos. But the age of Bernstein and Karajan, followed by the revival of Furtwangler, threw Toscanini into the shade. I can honstely say that until this month I had forgotten him entirely.



Now, thanks to the amazing technology whereby these tinny old NBC Sym. recordings have blossomed into a warm, natural, open acoustic (we can all quit cursing Studio 8-H), it's possible to reevaluate Toscanini. In this 2-CD colleciton of French orchestral works he is at his very best. It's a shock to listen to his La Mer and realize that it might well be the best performance on disc. Toscanini refines Debussy to the compressed clarity of a crystal--not a single note breaks loose from the perfect structure. In this new remastering the solo instruments actually have color and the strings sing. The mystery and drama implicit in Debussy's tone poem wrap us in an enveloping trance.



The Nuages from Trois Nocturnes and the Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, also in excellent sound, expose us to a Toscanini cliche, that he drove the music too hard late in life. This faun isn't out to seduce girls but to hook them on dexedrine--the tempo is much too fast and devoid of atmosphere. Yet the same crystalline clarity is there and becomes magnified in an outstanding Iberia, which has all the flexibility, half-supressed eroticism, and Spanish nostalgia the score deamnds. One is riveted from note to note by Toscanini's firm but intuitive phrasing.



These are the performances that most captured my imagination, along with a sublimely delicate Queen Mab Scherzo from Berlioz's Romeo and Juliet. Along iwth the La Mer, I'd count this a first choice. For those who love Ravel's candied tease, Daphnis and Chloe (I don't), Toscanini's reading is crisper and more bracing than usual. No sleepy morning nookie here.



There's probably not going to be a Toscanini revival--his enormous influence has already become part of modern orchestral life--but we can be grateful that The Maestro is no longer just a reputation prppped up in a hollow tuxedo. This is great music making with no apology or rose-colored glasses."

Toscanini's French repertoire

Robert E. Nylund | Ft. Wayne, Indiana United States | 10/22/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Here is a fine collection of some of the best works by French composers featuring Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra, all taken from studio recordings. Most of these were made in Carnegie Hall and benefit from its outstanding acoustics.



Remarkably, Debussy's "La Mer" and "Iberia" and Dukas' "The Sorceror's Apprentice" were made in NBC Studio 8-H; when there was no audience present in that studio, the sound was generally better, although it still lacked the reverberation of most concert halls. The performances, however, are outstanding. "La Mer," in particular has seldom sounded as haunting as it did in Toscanini's 1950 Studio 8-H recording. "Iberia" is exciting and colorful, as Debussy intended, and "The Sorceror's Apprentice" is lively and energetic, even if the tempo is a bit faster than most performances.



I've never heard Toscanini's recording of "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun," Debussy's first great masterpiece. The "Daphnis and Chloe" suite by Ravel is sensational, even if one misses the wordless chorus used in most performances and recordings. Toscanini brings out the beauty and sensitivity of the slower sections, then achieves great excitement in the spectacular finale.



Toscanini did well with Berlioz, as the "Roman Carnival" and "Queen Mab Scherzo" demonstrate. Fortunately, Toscanini also recorded the complete "Romeo and Juliet" dramatic symphony in 1947; I believe that was the first recording of the full score and was made after a highly-acclaimed NBC broadcast concert.



"Psyche and Eros" by Cesar Franck is absolutely brilliant, quite moving, in Toscanini's studio recording in Carnegie Hall.



He obviously had a lot of fun with Louis Herold's "Zampa" overture, one of the more showy of his 1952 Carnegie Hall studio recordings, as well as Camille Saint-Saens' "Danse macabre." The excerpts from "Carmen" by Georges Bizet are quite interesting, undoubtedly benefiting from Toscanini's careful editing.



Finally, the overture to "Mignon" was originally issued on a 12-inch 78-rpm disc in the mid 1940's; it was also recorded in Carnegie Hall and has remarkably good sound.



RCA's digital remastering of these recordings is a plus, although it is sometimes challenging for today's engineers to overcome the original engineers' tendency to boost highs and reduce lows."

Memorable performances

R. J. Claster | Van Nuys, CA United States | 07/19/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Nearly all the performances here are among the best available (with the exception of the Nuages, which is just too brisk to convey a dreamily evocative mood), and also in the best sound these recordings have ever received, sometimes (depending on the source) of truly high fidelity quality.
La Mer is the standout selection for me because this performance conveys an epic grandeur that one does not usually hear in this music, together with an acute sensitivity to beauty of sound, nuance of phrasing and clarity of texture. In particular, Toscanini brings out significantly more detail and dynamic inflections in the brass writing than I have heard from other recordings.
An essential purchase for this repertoire."