Toscanini! (Random Reviews from the Overflow Room)
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- Опубликовано: 24 июл 2024
- Yes, I had a Toscanini phase, and wound up with multiple recordings of the same performances in order to compare the marginal differences in sonic awfulness between them. Here, then, is the abundant residue of this excruciating effort. There are some gems, though, especially in repertoire that never achieved an "official" release on RCA.
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I had a HUGE Toscanini phase! He was my first love. I listened to everything. It’s been awhile but no other conductor has affected me so much. Love the clarity and the power…
I had a Furtwangler phase once, but the doctor gave me a shot and it went away.
Thanks Doc 👍
Mine lasted about a month. Wagner aside. My Toscanini phase has lasted about 55 years though I'm fully aware of his faults and limitations.
I entered my Toscanini phase in 1971, when I was 6. Have not left, though he is now in a pantheon of greats - no longer my sole musical god.
I have much respect for Toscanini, and own several recordings in my collection.
That being said, many of those recordings I would pass right by and never give a second look because I just can't sit through old recordings...can't take the sound, but that's me.
I am glad they are saved, collected,listened, appreciated, and discussed because Toscanini is the most important conductor EVER!!!!
He was a rock star, and set the standard for modern orchestras 👍
I went through Toscanini & Furtwangler phases in childhood and adolescence, respectively. Then around age 35 I went into a Szell & Reiner phase (with Kempe, van Beinum, Jochum, and some Beecham as runner-ups). This phase has seemingly become permanent.
The Harvey Sachs Bio is really superb. Other the usual bio this one reads like a novel!!!!
I, too, underwent a Toscanini phase which started when I was in high school. I remember I was at my local library one day, looking for a recording of Dukas's "L'apprenti sorcier" that I had previously borrowed and enjoyed. That recording was checked out by someone else and the only other available record was one of those RCA "Victrola" reissue LPs with Toscanini and the NBCSO. When I played it at home I was surprised by how dry, "boxy", and harsh the sound was. The liner notes said that it was recorded in 1950 in Studio 8H and I remember thinking "Boy, what a crappy venue THAT must have been!" The other selections on that disc (Strauss's "Don Juan" and "Till Eulenspiegel" and Berlioz's "Queen Mab Scherzo"), however, blew me away. I had previously heard recordings of "Till Eulenspiegel" but never like that! These days, I still admire those 3 performances and others like the Philharmonia Brahms 2nd Symphony (as well as his Wagner, Verdi, and Respighi recordings). I've largely moved on from Toscanini, though, and tend to listen more to Szell, Bernstein, Klemperer, Munch, etc. I liked some of Toscanini's Haydn, particularly Symphony No. 99. I hated his performances of No. 94 because of his extremely fast tempos. He treats the 3rd movement Menuet and Trio as if it were a scherzo! The only Mozart performance I liked was of Symphony No. 35. Toscanini's Beethoven could also be a bit hard-driven at times, but I think that the complete cycle he did in 1939 was excellent (despite the sonic limitations). The Naxos Historical edition of the cycle was the best IMH because it included most of the spoken commentary and station IDs.
I've never seen so many Opus Kuras in one place. I have very few and I acquired the Beethoven 7th one on your recommendation.
I don't generally like a lot of Pristine Audio's ambient stereo intervention, but I have to say he accomplished a miracle with that Feuermann/AT 1938 NBC Don Quixote. It opens it out tremendously, sounding almost like a modern recording. I wish he'd do Toscanini's 1938 Borodin 2nd, one of the great performances and, yes, often expansive and grand.
Toscanini did some weird Mozart but I love the Symphony 40 and that amazingly elastic (and very old-fashioned) 1929 Haffner.
Gould's Lincoln Legend is due for a revival. It would be a refreshing change from the Copland.
Muti has done Martucci's song cycle Canzoni dei Ricordi, a haunting, underrated work, but I dont think he's tackled the Martucci symphonies, the first is especially strong.
The earlier Brahms 3rds are much better than the 1950s performances when he began to overthink it.
I agree about the Sibelius 4th (and the Holberg Suite.) Intriguingly, Olin Downes said Toscanini had completely rethought his interpretation of the 4th but didnt provide any details.
RCA should also have released his performance of the Berlioz Francs-Juges Overture, the best I've heard, and very listenable sound from the era when NBC was adding reverb to 8H.
The two Haydn Sinfonia Concertantes are fascinating. The one RCA released from 1948 tends to be tight, in his later manner though still good; but the earlier one from 1939 is sunny, relaxed and lovingly shaped. Toscanini had trouble with some modern 20th century rhythms. El Salon Mexico is tricky. In order to get it right, Toscanini wrote out the entire score from scratch. Walter Toscanini later gave it to Copland.
I think the resulting performance is pretty good. His Harris 3rd should also be released.
There's so much out there to listen to, I can go a year without hearing Toscanini conduct but then I have get my fix and hear once again that excitingly alive, passionate yet precise, rhythmically alert playing where every bar, every page seems to matter like nothing else on earth at the moment.
I managed to pick up about 50 rca reissues on lp, which were this content , they were part of a Toscanini series, all with gold jackets numbered and with provenance, the sound on many is excellent, the Pic at Exh was stunning …
I tried ordering some Toscanini recordings last weekend from 6 different sources, but everybody was out of stock....now I see why 🤣
Judging by those rehearsals, if Toscanini was working today, you know reports would surface of there being a"toxic work environment".
I'm a big fan of the EMI Icon box, which has some of my favourite Toscanini performances in it (Brahms 4, Enigma Variations, etc). Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see the 1952 Brahms cycle which Toscanini did with Karajan's Philharmonia Orchestra?
You missed it.
As a Verdi conductor he is absolutely wonderful even with some weird casting choices (Eva Gustavson as Amneris?) but that orchestra becomes another member of the cast.
I feel i go through a toscanini re listen at least once a year.
I had a Toscanini phase. I like some, but to be honest, I don’t really get it.
I'm with you. I acknowledge his eminence and enjoy some of his recordings, particularly pre-WW2. But overall, I personally find him more of a technician than an artist. BTW, as an old Dick Van Dyke show fan, I recognize your ID. 😄
@@leestamm3187 Always glad to meet an old DvD fan.