{"product_id":"toscanini-the-manfred-concert-1946-pasc096","title":"TOSCANINI The 'Manfred' Concert (1946) - PASC096","description":"overviewfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 18px;\"\u003eSCHUMANN \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 18px;\"\u003eManfred Overture\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 18px;\"\u003eTCHAIKOVSKY \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 18px;\"\u003eManfred Symphony\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12px;\"\u003eRecorded live in 1946\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12px;\"\u003eTotal duration: 60:50\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003eNBC Symphony Orchestra \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003econducted by \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003eArturo Toscanini \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9review_titlefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fFanfare Review578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9review_quotefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fTchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony, of which Toscanini was an important advocate, receives an impressively powerful reading578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9review_bodyfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f\u003cp class=\"B\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"TIMES\"\u003eThese releases are a sampling of the Toscanini\ndiscs available online from Pristine Audio, which employs a remastering\nprocess developed by Pristine’s founder, Andrew Rose, that enhances the\nsound of the original source materials by using a “harmonic soundprint”\n(as it were) developed digitally from modern recordings of the music\nbeing restored. Of the four discs listed above, the Beethoven Seventh is\nToscanini’s famous 1936 recording made with the New York Philharmonic\nfor RCA; the Bruckner Seventh—the only extant example of Toscanini\nconducting Bruckner—is from a 1935 Philharmonic broadcast; and the two\nother discs preserve NBC Symphony broadcasts that originated in 1945 and\n1946 from Studio 8-H. (Note that in \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMESi\"\u003eFanfare\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMES\"\u003e\n31:4 for March\/April 2008, in the postscript to my review of the 1939\nToscanini\/NBC Beethoven symphony cycle as issued recently by Music \u0026amp;\nArts using this same restoration process, I absentmindedly wrote “a\n1935 Bruckner Ninth” where I should have said “Seventh,” referring to\nthis very recording. Having made some detailed comments earlier in that\nreview about the conductor’s 1939 NBC Beethoven Ninth, “Ninth” seemingly\ngot stuck in my head.) \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"B\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"TIMES\"\u003eThe 1936 Toscanini\/Philharmonic Beethoven Seventh\n(PASC068) requires little comment, the greatness of this recording having gone\nunquestioned (so far as I can tell) from the time of its original\nrelease. I must admit, however, that when I want to hear Toscanini\nconduct this music, I turn to the 1939 Beethoven Seventh from the\naforementioned NBC cycle, if only for its greater immediacy of sound. I\nshould also state up front that I’ve never heard a transfer of the 1936\nrecording, either on LP or CD, that for me matches the immediacy of the\noriginal 78s, which I chanced upon at a yard sale while I was in\ngraduate school. Pristine’s release suffers, at least on my copy, from a\npersistent layer of static-like graininess (somewhat less noticeable\nover my speakers than over headphones) whenever the dynamic level\nreaches or exceeds \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMESi\"\u003emezzo forte\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMES\"\u003e.\nAs a result, the present restoration strikes me as inferior to the more\nnatural-sounding (if typically “surface-noisy”) transfer issued in 1989\nby Pearl (which, like Pristine Audio’s, uses the original, broader\nversion of the first-movement introduction), and inferior also to the\n1991 transfer issued by RCA as part of its “Arturo Toscanini\nCollection,” which, though overly bright, shallow, and bothersomely\nbass-deficient, at least doesn’t obscure the inner workings of the\nmusic. \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"B\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"TIMES\"\u003eInterestingly, in his notes for that RCA release, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMESi\"\u003eFanfare\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMES\"\u003e\ncolleague\/Toscanini authority Mortimer Frank writes that the “second,\nmore propulsive and better-recorded take” of the first-movement\nintroduction was used there “out of respect for Toscanini’s preference\nfor it”; though this begs the question of why the broader version was\nreleased to start with, being replaced only after the original master\nbecame worn. I have not heard the CD transfer on Naxos, not marketed in\nthe United States, that includes the first movement twice (with both the\noriginal and the replacement versions of the first-movement\nintroduction), and which pairs this Beethoven Seventh with a famously\npowerful 1933 Toscanini\/Philharmonic broadcast of Beethoven’s Fifth.\nThat, presumably, is the version to look for. (My 78s, by the way, are\nof the original release with the slower introduction. Anyone know if\nthey’re valuable?) \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"B\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"TIMES\"\u003eFor ages, many more Toscanini devotees, including me, have \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMESi\"\u003ewanted\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMES\"\u003e\nto hear his 1935 Bruckner Seventh with the New York Philharmonic than\nwere ever actually able to do so, but Pristine’s release (PASC082), in\nastonishingly good sound for the period, should help rectify that\nsituation. Toscanini led the Philharmonic in four performances of the\nSeventh in March 1931; two performances of the Bruckner Fourth in\nNovember 1932; one more of the Fourth in February 1934; and four further\nperformances of the Seventh (the preserved broadcast being the last) in\nJanuary 1935. With the NBC Symphony he conducted no Bruckner at all.\nWhat we have of the Seventh is not quite complete: the first movement is\nabruptly and frustratingly truncated seven measures before the end; in\nthe Adagio, which is otherwise complete, there’s a three-measure gap\nabout three minutes before the end, at 18: 05 (given the slow tempo,\nthis means about 15–20 seconds of music, presumably the time needed to\nget a new acetate up and running as the broadcast was being recorded);\nand in the finale (the Scherzo is complete), there’s a gap of 14\nmeasures at 4:50. If the materials used by Toscanini matched the 1885\nscore edited by Albert J. Gutmann (the one used by the Boston Symphony\nback then; Leopold Nowak’s edition for the International Bruckner\nSociety appeared in 1954), he has made a number of alterations to the\nscoring—including, for example, changes to the timpani part in the first\nand (possibly) third movements, and the addition of brass (to double\nthe violins) at the start of the finale’s slower-moving “second theme\nunit”—and has cut that second theme unit entirely in the finale’s\nrecapitulation. \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"B\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"TIMES\"\u003eExcept for the loss of the first movement’s final page, none of this is overly disturbing. What \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMESi\"\u003eis\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMES\"\u003e\ndisturbing, however, is how uneven the performance is. For interested\nparties who’ve never heard Toscanini’s Bruckner, the first movement\nshould be revelatory—it’s broad, deeply felt, engrossing in the way one\nwants Bruckner to be, and suggestive that Toscanini had it in him to be a\ngreat Bruckner conductor. But then the Adagio comes off as surprisingly\nstolid and shapeless (sometimes seeming to proceed measure by measure,\nor even note by note, with no sense of line or overall architecture—the\nlast thing one would expect of Toscanini!); the Scherzo seems\ncharacterless (which it might not have done had the Adagio held up\nbetter); and the finale is so rushed that, despite some impressive\npassages, the main effect is mainly and ultimately one of speed, to no\noverall purpose. (For what it’s worth, the finale’s tempo designation in\nthe 1885 Gutmann edition is “Bewegt, doch \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMESi\"\u003enicht schnell\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMES\"\u003e”\n(italics mine), the same designation printed, in brackets, by Nowak.)\nGiven how inconsistent and surprisingly unsuccessful this performance\nturns out to be, it’s a pity not to have anything more of Toscanini’s\nBruckner, if only to see what might have happened on other occasions.\nNevertheless, this is a truly important addition to the conductor’s\ndiscography, one that his devotees will unquestionably want to know. \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"B\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"TIMES\"\u003eThough departing from my alphabetical headnote\norder, let me now make reasonably quick work of the 1946 Toscanini\/NBC\n“Manfred program.” (PASC096) The Schumann Overture gets a powerful performance\nthat’s basically identical—except for the sound—to the recording made\nfor RCA in Carnegie Hall the day after the concert. In fact, I actually\nprefer the more intense immediacy of this Studio 8-H broadcast in\nPristine’s remastering to RCA’s Carnegie Hall account. Tchaikovsky’s \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMESi\"\u003eManfred Symphony\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMES\"\u003e,\nof which Toscanini was an important advocate, likewise receives an\nimpressively powerful reading—more powerful, I would say, than the other\nthree Toscanini performances on my shelf (his first and last NBC\nbroadcasts of the piece, from December 1940 and January 1953,\nrespectively; and his December 1949 recording for RCA). Yet as much as I\ncan admire it on recordings and in performance, and as interesting as\nit is to note the conductor’s occasional alterations to the composer’s\ninstrumentation (e.g., the addition of tam-tam to the end of the first\nmovement), this isn’t a piece I’ve ever much cared to hear; and when I\ndo hear it, I want to hear it without the inexcusably disfiguring\n118-measure cut that Toscanini imposes on the finale, which completely\nundermines the narrative and musical structure that Tchaikovsky\nintended. \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"Br\"\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"TIMES\"\u003eFinally we have Toscanini’s 1945\nCherubini\/Smetana\/Mendelssohn broadcast (PASC089), heard here in excellent sound,\nin a transfer that retains announcer Ben Grauer’s atmospherically\nevocative words (however commercially oriented) as to the wartime\nefforts of the broadcast’s sponsor, General Motors. The opening \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMESi\"\u003eAnacréon\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMES\"\u003e\nOverture is dramatically taut and engrossing—much preferable to the\nbroader, less-well-controlled 1953 broadcast issued by RCA (in which the\nslow introduction is more than 20 seconds longer than here), and quite\ndifferent from Toscanini’s intriguingly loose-limbed, more freely\nexpressive 1935 BBC Symphony performance, which is marked by frequent\nand sometimes surprising tempo fluctuations. (You can find this on BBC\nLegends, in the two-disc set that includes the conductor’s 1939 BBC\nSymphony \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMESi\"\u003eMissa solemnis\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMES\"\u003e.) On the other hand, the rather driven 1945 \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMESi\"\u003eMoldau\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMES\"\u003e\non this disc is notably inferior to RCA’s 1950 Carnegie Hall recording,\nthe latter being considerably more spacious and relaxed than what we\nget here, perhaps due to the time constraints of the hour-long 1945\nbroadcast, where there’s barely time to breathe between numbers.\n(Toscanini’s 1953 NBC \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMESi\"\u003eMoldau\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMES\"\u003e\nbroadcast, once available on Memories, is likewise more expansive than\nthe present 1945 account.) But this 1945 account of the “Reformation”\nSymphony more than makes up for \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMESi\"\u003eMoldau\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMES\"\u003e’s\nfailings. While the 1953 “Reformation” broadcast issued by RCA may be\nmore generally relaxed and atmospheric, I find the overall thrust and\nimmediacy of this 1945 performance more consistently engrossing,\ncompelling, and cumulatively powerful, with a more convincing close than\nthe somewhat more protracted 1953 ending. Toscanini’s tempo for the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMESi\"\u003eAllegro maestoso\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMES\"\u003e of the last movement, much broader than what’s generally heard—in fact, more \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMESi\"\u003emaestoso\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMES\"\u003e—has\nbeen subject to much criticism. But since I first learned the piece\nfrom the 1953 broadcast issued by RCA, most other performances I’ve\nheard tend to strike me as rushed. As it happens, the finale of\nToscanini’s November 1942 broadcast (once available on an Arturo\nToscanini Recordings Society CD) is closer to what might be considered\nthe “norm” for this music. Taken together, these three performances of\nthe “Reformation” Symphony offer a particularly interesting study in how\nhis approach to a given piece could change over the years, in this case\nmoving from a faster, tighter account to one of increasing breadth—the\nvery opposite of what generalizations pervading the Toscanini literature\nwould lead one to expect. In any event, it’s this 1945 account that I\nlike best of the three, and which to my mind makes this disc\nparticularly recommendable. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"Br\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMES\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cspan class=\"TIMESb\"\u003eMarc Mandel \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12px;\"\u003eThis article originally appeared in Issue 31:6 (July\/Aug 2008) of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12px;\"\u003eFanfare\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 12px;\"\u003e Magazine.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9main_samplefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fsamples\/PASC096.mp3578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_labelfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fProducer's Note578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_typefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fcontent578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_contentfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f\u003cp\u003eAs with our well-received Symphony of the Air concerts (PASC089-91), this recording was taken from a very good open-reel tape source, and required relatively minimal restoration to bring it up to an excellent sound quality.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_cover_thumbnail1_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_cover_thumbnail2_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_cover_download_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample1_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample2_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample3_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample4_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample5_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab1_sample6_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_labelfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fFull Track Listing578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_typefb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5ftrack_listing578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_contentfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eSCHUMANN \u003c\/b\u003eManfred Overture, Op. 115\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 16px;\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eTCHAIKOVSKY \u003c\/b\u003eManfred Symphony in B minor, Op. 58\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNBC Symphony Orchestra \u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/b\u003econducted by \u003cb\u003eArturo Toscanini \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRecorded live at NBC Studio 8H, 10th November 1946\u003cbr\u003eTransfer and XR remastering by Andrew Rose, September 2007\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTotal duration: 60:50\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_cover_thumbnail1_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_cover_thumbnail2_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_cover_download_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample1_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample2_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample3_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample4_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample5_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab2_sample6_s3_locationfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f578a9379d1e540bd96d26f03a79628d9tab3_labelfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5fCover 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