Arturo Toscanini Plays Brahms

• Main performer: Arturo Toscanini
• Booklet languages: English
• Time: 146:03
• Release Date: 2008

Review

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 Overture and the B flat major Piano Concerto later in his career, the concerto with his son-in-law Vladimir Horowitz. Orchestrally, these 1936 performances are quite fine, particularly the Overture, which has the kind of relaxed exuberance the later recording sorely lacks. Pianistically, of course, Robert Casadesus, for all his charm and polish, is no match for the fire-breathing Horowitz in Brahms' heroic concerto. The third selection, however, is another Toscanini rarity: three of Brahms' four Part Songs for female choir, two horns, and harp, Op. 17, plus Brahms' choral setting of Schubert's Jäger, ruhe von der Jagd, D. 838. Though his tempos are heavy and his textures are thick, Toscanini clearly has a fondness for these short works and his interpretations are full of felicities of phrasing. The recordings off the air monaural sound is thin, gray, and shallow but still surprisingly clean due to Guild's superior remastering. ~ James Leonard, Rovi

Performances

Composer	Title	Time
Spoken Word	Announcement	0:13
Johannes Brahms	Serenade for orchestra No. 1 in D major, Op. 11	42:39
Johannes Brahms	Serenade for orchestra No. 2 in A major, Op. 16	33:50
Johannes Brahms	Academic Festival Overture, for orchestra in C minor ("Akademische Festouvertüre"), Op. 80	10:34
Spoken Word	Announcement	0:12
Johannes Brahms	Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 83	43:28
Johannes Brahms	Gesang aus Fingal ("Wein' an den Felsen"), for female chorus, 2 horns & harp, Op. 17/4	6:32
Johannes Brahms	Der Gärtner ("Wohin ich geh und schaue"), for female chorus, 2 horns & harp, Op. 17/3	2:35
Johannes Brahms	Lied von Shakespeare ("Komm herbei, komm herbei"), for female chorus, 2 horns & harp, Op. 17/2	3:13
Franz Schubert	Ellens Gesang II ("Jäger, ruhe von der Jagd"), song for voice & piano, D. 838 (Op. 52/2)	2:47

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