Toscanini rarities anyone? The first disc of this two-disc Guild set features the Italian conductor directing orchestral music of Brahms, and not the standard symphonies and not with the NBC Symphony, but rather the much rarer serenades with the New York Philharmonic. Recorded in 1935, these performances date from before Toscanini's retirement from the New York Philharmonic and thus contain playing that is for the most part markedly superior to his later NBC Symphony recordings. Even in this unfamiliar repertoire, Toscanini ...
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Toscanini rarities anyone? The first disc of this two-disc Guild set features the Italian conductor directing orchestral music of Brahms, and not the standard symphonies and not with the NBC Symphony, but rather the much rarer serenades with the New York Philharmonic. Recorded in 1935, these performances date from before Toscanini's retirement from the New York Philharmonic and thus contain playing that is for the most part markedly superior to his later NBC Symphony recordings. Even in this unfamiliar repertoire, Toscanini proves himself a master with confident and convincing performances. His tempos here are for the most part a bit on the quick side, and his interpretations are direct and unaffected, overdoing neither the symphonic elements in the D major Serenade nor the bucolic elements in the A major Serenade. For Toscanini fans, then, the first disc here will be mandatory listening.Things are less sure in the second disc. Of the three selections here, Toscanini recorded both the Academic Festival...
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