Search - Rieti, Toscanini, NBC Symphony :: Sinfonia Tripartita

A Fascinating Symphony in Amazingly Good Sound for '40s!

09/15/1998

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Rieti's Sinfonia Tripartita is a good-natured neoclassical work, deeply influenced by mid-period Stravinsky, which is not otherwise available in a modern interpretation. The Nov. 25, 1945 Toscanini broadcast is also available in a wretchedly produced British CD set of Toscanini Italian music renditions, but in this outstanding and well-documented Premier release, original archival sources were used to prepare a tape for Rieti's own library: we are as close to hearing the sound the engineers audited in the Studio 8-H control room as we are ever going to experience! The dry and clinical pickup is not inappropriate for such elegant, chamber-like scoring; there is full and rich bass; and highs extend nicely up to about 8,000 Hertz: almost state of the art for 1945. The result is not significantly inferior to the finest commercial recordings of the era: audio quality is comparable to the wonderful 1945 Bruno Walter NYP Mahler 4th, as heard in the recent Sony "Bruno Walter Edition" CD transfer by Seth Winner. The Rieti symphony seems to this auditor to be the finest of his works thus encountered: a strong, interesting, charming, and engaging piece. Why do the critics constantly harp that Toscanini was not interested in modern music? We have plenty of examples -- such as this work -- that give the lie to this shortsighted notion. The Gold & Fizdale monaural 1950s recording of the Second Avenue Waltzes is not as transparent as the Toscanini broadcast; nor are the works as interesting as the symphony. But the sparse duo-piano repertoire certainly benefits from the existence of the music. The same distinguished pair are accompanied by Ansermet and the OSR in a live concert reading (also mono) of the Concerto for Two Pianos, which -- like the waltzes -- does not make the powerful and positive impression of the Sinfonia. Finally, there is a seventies stereo recording of the interesting, neo-classical Trio, by the Beaux Arts ensemble, in very good two-channel sound. The annotations are to be commended: this production is obviously a fine work of love and respect for Rieti's artistry."