Toscanini, again!

[Lance]

From the beginning of my LP record collecting days from the age of 17, recordings by Toscanini played a major part of my collection. Then came forth his mega-sets from RCA. EMI issued some CDs as did Sony Classical from the Columbia days. Then there was the gathering of his work, and then on many other labels with some better remasterings from Biddulph, BBC Legends, Appian, Andante, AS Disc, dell'Arte, Eklipse, Music & Arts, Lys, Dante, IDI, Guild Historical, Naxos Historical, and many others. I thought I had it all. I didn't. What was missing were the unpublished HMV recordings from 1935 and 1938 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra [Testament 1015] and a two-CD set with works by Meyerbeer, Goldmark, Bizet, Massenet, Mozart, Copland and Sousa, all with the NBC Symphony Orchestra [Testament 1404]. Now I have those, but, still don't have it all. Maybe it is no longer necessary to have it all though I am happy to have the Testament issues. Seems like we were talking about Toscanini on another thread just awhile ago. That was followed up with the book, Toscanini in Britain by Christopher Dyment, which I believe John Francis discussed. I don't know how I missed that book, but thankfully, I have been perusing it of late.

[maestrob]

Toscanini was the first and only conductor to re-think Brahms's First Symphony's first movement opening, leading it in 2 (or 3) instead of in 6 (or 9) which conductors with modern orchestras do. This means that the average listener hears the music at a faster tempo, which makes the music less weighty. It's an interesting interpretation, one that I happen to admire but not agree with. I do not like my Brahms slow and heavy though, and I admire Toscanini for taking on that problem.

My favorite Nimrod (Elgar) is with Toscanini from the 1930's with the BBC, released by EMI in the 1990's. It's overwrought, of course, and passionate, but deeply moving. What it must have been like to be there live, just a few years before WWII broke out, with Hitler's shadow already looming.