Toscanini's First NBC Concert

Toscanini (Artist), Vivaldi (Artist), Mozart (Artist), Brahms (Artist), Nbcso (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 20, 1995)
• Label: Enterprise
• ASIN: B0000040T3
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,587,614 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Sym No.40 in g, KV 550: I. Allegro molto

2. Sym No.40 in g, KV 550: II. Andante

3. Sym No.40 in g, KV 550: III. Minuetto-Allegro

4. Sym No.40 in g, KV 550: IV. Finale-Allegro Assai

5. Sym No.1 in c, Op.68: I. Un Poco Sostenuto-Allegro

6. Sym No.1 in c, Op.68: II. Andante Sostenuto

7. Sym No.1 in c, Op.68: III. Un Poco Allegretto E Grazioso

8. Sym No.1 in c, Op.68: IV. Adagio-Allegro Non Troppo Ma Con Brio

9. Con Grosso Op.3 No.11 in d, RV 565 from 'L'Estro Armonico': I. Allegro-Adagio-Allegro

10. Con Grosso Op.3 No.11 in d, RV 565 from 'L'Estro Armonico': II. Largo e spiccato

11. Con Grosso Op.3 No.11 in d, RV 565 from 'L'Estro Armonico': III. Allegro

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Historic Event, November 18, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Toscanini's First NBC Concert (Audio CD)

This first concert by Toscanini and the newly formed NBC Symphony was indeed an event, as most music lovers of the time expected that after Toscanini retired from the Philharmonic the year before, American audiences would never hear him again. This broadcast from Christmas night of 1937 contains three staples of the Toscanini repertoire. The Vivaldi Concerto Grosso is a committed performace but the piece is played in the vibrato laden, rather leaden performance style favored at the time. There is no continuo keyboard, not even a piano, so the passages for the soloists are totally barren of accompanying harmony, with a lone cello playing the bass line. The stylistic choices here sound rather comical from the vantage point of the end of the 20th century! The Mozart G minor is unique in Toscanini's repertoire. He did not particularly care for Mozart except for a few pieces (this was one of them) and he did not really understand the composer. That lack of understanding shows here. The songful and passionate first movement almost makes a case for the validity of this interpertation; the other movements, tense, metronomic and too fast, destroy the performance. The Brahms symphony from this broadcast concert on the other hand is one of the great performances on record of this piece. It is the most affecting of Toscanini's recorded performances, either those from broadcasts or in commercial studio recordings. The playing is warm and vibrant, the ensemble and intonation are impeccable, as they often were not in later NBC performances. The tight acoustics of Studio 8H are almost a blessing: one can hear EVERYTHING. The coda of the last movement, one of the most widely misunderstood passages in Western classical music, and one of the most difficult to pull off, here is thrillingly understood and beautifully played.

3.0 out of 5 stars An Historic Event Preserved In Rather Weak Sound Quality, November 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Toscanini's First NBC Concert (Audio CD)

Toscanini began his seventeen years of broadcasts with the NBC Symphony in the performances included here in this Enterprise/Radio Years CD release, at a reasonable price considering that prior vinyl issues required two LP's, while the present CD contains all of the program, plus most of the announcements, on one midpriced disk.

Unfortunately, the engineers unwisely decided to apply some artificial stereotizing though much of it can be cancelled out if the listener uses the MONO switch on her preamp or stereo set. The sound is not as solid as the old LP's that were released 20 years ago, but it is serviceable.

Do not expect the technical quality of the fine RCA recordings that are included in the official BMG TOSCANINI COLLECTION. We have in this "aircheck" a preservation on old lacquer disks, done probably in Rockefeller Center in New York where the NBC Symphony broadcasts originated at Studio 8-H. The orchestra had been formed a few weeks earlier from a core of about 60 contracted players who performed during NBC radio programs, supplemented by many fine free-lance union musicians from the immediate area. Pierre Monteux and Artur Rodzinski worked to whip the ensemble into shape, and Toscanini is reported to have begun his first rehearsal with the peremptory command "BRAHMS!" followed at once by a mighty, slashing downbeat. Though the men feared his wrath, the Maestro conducted without interruption all the way through the first movement of the Symphony herein and was quite satisfied.

The concert went well, and the readings have some of the aspects of Toscanini's "earlier style" of conducting, evident from scratchy old recordings of live performances of the New York Philharmonic, which he led from the mid-twenties to 1936. The old Italian conductor then retired to his lovely island in Italy, but was lured back by NBC's music director Samuel Chotzinoff with promise of a fine salary authorized by David Sarnoff, the President of RCA and NBC; and by the hope that radio would bring music to the mass audience who had never attended his concerts.

The Vivaldi concerto grosso opening the program was one of the conductor's favorites, and is given a strict reading that resembles more the modern "historically informed" style than the syrupy Romanticism of the pre-War period.

Mozart's G-Minor symphony was a specialty of Toscanini, and he provides as thoroughly intense and committed a performance as any other during his long tenure at NBC. And the Brahms Symphony No. 1 is a strong, fine, singing reading (though the sonics are not always rock steady in pitch, and have rough patches of surface noise from time to time.)

The radio announcer here might as well be covering a coronation; he is as portentous and pretentious as the stilted style of the era would permit. Today's TV and radio music hosts are more conversational and low-key; but this was an historic world event (and was transmitted via shortwave as far as RCA's huge antennas could throw the signal) as well as across the U.S. and Canada.

This is a valuable artifact from the days when Radio was important in everyone's life (and should be in any Toscanini enthusiast's collection.)