Brahms: Symphony in Cm No1, Op68; Mozart: Symphony No41

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
Although Toscanini and the NBC Orchestra made commercial recordings for these repertoire staples, the 1940 broadcast performances gathered here prove superior on every count. Those who rightly find the Maestro's 1945 recording of Mozart's "Jupiter" Symphony overtly brusque and architectonic will be surprised by how congenial and liberally inflected the broadcast of April 20, 1940 seems in comparison. Similarly, Toscanini's Brahms First of May 6, 1940 fuses tensile strength and architecture with spontaneous rubatos and a degree of tempo fluctuation quite different from the Maestro's later, more streamlined accounts. Music & Arts' superb, impactive sound suggests that "inside" sources were used to produce this CD. An essential purchase for anyone with the slightest interest in Toscanini. --Jed Distler

Amazon.com essential recording

Although Toscanini and the NBC Orchestra made commercial recordings for these repertoire staples, the 1940 broadcast performances gathered here prove superior on every count. Those who rightly find the Maestro's 1945 recording of Mozart's "Jupiter" Symphony overtly brusque and architectonic will be surprised by how congenial and liberally inflected the broadcast of April 20, 1940 seems in comparison. Similarly, Toscanini's Brahms First of May 6, 1940 fuses tensile strength and architecture with spontaneous rubatos and a degree of tempo fluctuation quite different from the Maestro's later, more streamlined accounts. Music & Arts' superb, impactive sound suggests that "inside" sources were used to produce this CD. An essential purchase for anyone with the slightest interest in Toscanini. --Jed Distler

Customer Reviews:

The Ultimate Toscanini "Jupiter" Symphony.......1998-09-18

"Digitally refurbished in 1994" says the cover of this M&A CD. I always shudder when I see something like this on an historical compact disk, having been burned so often by engineering that adds horrible echoes, phase shifts, and inappropriate re-equalizations.

But here we have only fine, clinical, and honest sound from the original monaural transcription disks, as close to them in lifelike reality as we are likely to hear! Huzzah!!

And the revelation provided by this issue is that Toscanini's considered view of the Mozart "Jupiter", etched into the 1945 shellac disk recording now included on Volume 11 of the RCA / BMG Toscanini Collection, does not necessarily represent his best achievement with the piece.

Robert C. Marsh and other critics have long felt that the 1945 recording was rushed and hectic, though I personally discovered that at least part of its intensity was due to the extra audio compression added to the mid-fifties Victor Red Seal LP pressing; my earlier late-forties vinyl 45 rpm set had wider dynamic range and less "stress" in the loud peaks, which seemed to have enhanced the spaciousness of the interpretation. The BMG CD issue resembles the 45 rpm, or the original shellacs, more than the compressed Victor LP.

But this revelatory 20 April 1940 broadcast (mistakenly described on the back of the CD as being from '49) finds the Maestro in a more pensive and relaxed mood. Using an electronic metronome, I made some comparisons of tempo with the commercial release done 5 years later.

1. Allegro Vivace: In 1940, Toscanini's opening tempo is much slower than the careening take-off of '45. He soon settles in at about 140-142 quarter-note beats per minute, though the pacing is very flexible and constantly varies around these values. In 1945, he charges off at about 150-52 and is less plastic and more martial.

2. Andante. Cantabile: The tempo of 93 to 95 in 1940 is raised to a fast 105 for the later commercial recording, and sounds far too quick: was the Maestro straining to get the movement on two sides of the 78 rpm set? Well, no, for it takes a total of 6:48 in 1945 (one side of a typical 78 could last from 4 and a half to just over 5 minutes) as opposed to 6:42 in 1940 (referring to the ACTUAL track playing times, not the incorrect indications on the RCA and M&A albums.) One finds a paradox: the earlier reading is SHORTER than the later, faster- sounding one: this is accomplished through the use of tempo rubato, varying the pace but centering the basic pulse around a specific tempo. Toscanini used this technique throughout his career, but tended to abandon it and revert to stricter tempi in the last decade. The earlier version is more flexible and natural in expression.

3. Menuetto. Allegro. Trio: The basic pulse in 1940 is about 148-9 quarter note beats per minute, speeded up to 151 or a bit faster in '45. Not too much difference, but it IS noticeable!

4. Finale. Allegro Molto: In 1940, Toscanini plays the movement at a basic tempo centered around 149 to 150 quarter note beats per minute; in '45 he has accelerated to at least 156 or even faster! The orchestra has to scramble and, according to Marsh's analysis, plays many passages in an unclean manner.

Throughout the 1940 reading, all is sunny relaxation and good humor. If this performance were more widely know, it might rehabilitate Toscanini's damaged reputation as a Mozart conductor who seemed to press too hard!

The Brahms Symphony No. 1 was done at Carnegie Hall on 6 May 1940 and, like the Mozart, has good solid in-house acetate disk aircheck sound, though both have no highs above about 4.5 to 5 kHz and seem just a bit inferior in transparency to the great 1936 PSNY recording of the Beethoven Seventh.

Tracks:

Sym No.41 in C, K551, 'Jupiter': I. Allegro Vivace
Sym No.41 in C, K551, 'Jupiter': II. Andante Cantabile
Sym No.41 in C, K551, 'Jupiter': III. Mennetto. Allegro. Trio
Sym No.41 in C, K551, 'Jupiter': IV. Finale. Allegro Molto
Sym No.1 in c, Op.68: I. Un Poco Sostenuto - Allegro
Sym No.1 in c, Op.68: II. Andante Sostenuto
Sym No.1 in c, Op.68: III. Un Poco Allegretto E Grazioso
Sym No.1 in c, Op.68: IV. Adagio - Piu Andante - Allegro Non Troppo, Etc.

Customer Reviews:

Discrete Mozart; outstanding Brahms!.......2005-09-04

Toscanini -believe it or not- just only conducted this lovable Symphony (to my mind the most pyramidal of Mozart's Symphonies). If you consider this circumstance and the considerably reduced number of Symphonic works, the conclusion seems evident.
This was the second performance ( The Maestro was in 73) with the NBC recorded in the claustrophobic Studio 8H, 20 April 1949.
The First Movement is visibly taut and played without Majestic warmth. It possesses epic breadth but the Dionysian aspect is vanished. This Mozart is extremely dense, and Fore Beethovenian. Maybe this was his hidden intention.
It seems an undeniable fact to affirm Toscanini didn't enjoy neither Adagios nor Andantes. He eluded them visibly and intended to play as fast as he can. Three examples are extremely revealing: The Adagio in the "New World", the Andante in Mendelssohn's Fifth and particularly in this Andante.
The Second Movement lacks of serenity and contemplative rapture. It' s played very fast, resulting a hasted phrasing. The expected ingenuity of the Third Movement is substituted by harsh attacks. The last Movement is the best, without any doubt.
"Nobody knows what it means to walk under the shadow of a giant"; this was Brahms comment, referring to Beethoven, every time he was requested about the continuous demands of close friends and the audience to write a Symphony. It's not a mere casualty we had to wait till the Op. 48 composed among his 29 and 43 years (fourteen years is not precisely a piece of cake)
As you can guess, the jewel of the crown is this superb performance of Brahms First. The introduction is the key that can guarantee us if the movement will be fortunate or not. There must be a hidden and latent restrained rage -expressed by timpani through its Fifty two beats in throughout the intrinsic character vary of character and intensity- involved by the strings.
The admirable conviction and admirable phrasing is present along the performance. The Orchestra's tuttis , rubatos, pianissimos and sforzandos are simply sublime. Far from being reluctant fireworks , constitute effective dramatic devices to express a vision.
This living recorded version in Carnegie Hall, 6 May, 1940 is to my mind the most educated and refined performance made with the members of the NBC.
But if you are still seeking for the most epic performance of this work, then go for the incandescent, radiant and expansive First recorded 17 January, 1943 (Music & Arts CD-995). It' simply superb. This is my definitive choice in what NBC register concerns.
My Toscanini Brahms First' s favorite dramatic approach is the electrifying performance with the Philarmonia Orchestra in 1952. It still remains as the unsurpassable, out of NBC circuit.

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