Customer Reviews

Arturo Toscanini: The NBC Years (Amadeus)

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Most of what we know of the conducting of Arturo Toscanini comes from his recordings with the NBC Symphony, an orchestra formed by RCA for radio broadcasts and recordings from 1937-1954. As Frank points out in this excellent book, most of these recordings were made when Toscanini was in his 80's, and therefore perhaps not representative of his best work. This book tries to put these recordings in perspective by detailing and describing the NBC Broadcasts season by season. As Frank points out, some of Toscanini's best performances occured when the conductor was in front of an audience, where he was more relaxed. Frank gives a detailed season by season description of the NBC years, as well as complete program information. Also included is a complete (as possible) discography of both official and unoffical recordings. There is also a balanced discussion of the criticism and "hero worship" of the conductor in the intervening years. Other goodies: A complete list of NBC Symphony Personnel, a list of guest conductors and broadcasts, and a very interesting discussion about the "deconstructing" of the Toscanini image. After reading this book, I wanted to hear more of Toscanini's broadcast performances (and how about some of Guido Cantelli's broadcasts, also)!

It's true that this book is really only for fans of Arturo Toscanini, but there are many of us. It provides information not otherwise available. (And with due respect to the review above by Edith Eisler, I am certain that there never was a tour of Japan by the NBC Symphony Orchestra, and I am virtually certain that Toscanini never went to Japan to conduct any orchestra.) Mr. Frank is fair, musical, knowledgeable, and informative.

This book may initially appeal to the specialist or the buff, but it is so well done that anyone interested in performance practice (or, of course, in Toscanini) should read it. An extremely sophisticated analysis of the maestro's NBC years and one that rounds out our understanding of Toscanini. Add it to your Haggin, the Sachs bio, and the old Spike Hughes book.

Wonderful book which gives superb documentation about the Toscanini NBC Symphony broadcasts and the Maestros years at NBC. However if someone is going to give an editorial review they should get their facts straight (whoever Edith Eisler is) - there was no NBC Symphony tour of Japan under Toscanini.