The Internet's Premier Classical Music Source
Related Links
- Latest Reviews
- More Reviews
-
By Composer
-
Collections
DVD & Blu-ray
Books
Concert Reviews
Articles/Interviews
Software
Audio
Search Amazon
Recommended Links
Site News
Site Search
Follow us on
Affiliates
CD Review
1938 NBC Concert
- Gioachino Rossini: Overture "Cenerentola"
- Richard Strauss: Don Quixote
- Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony #5
Emmanuel Feuermann, cello
Carlton Cooley, viola
NBC Symphony Orchestra/Arturo Toscanini
Guild GHCD2223 75m ADD Rec: 1938
There have been a number of Toscanini recordings issued over the past few years and collectors can safely say to have almost all his available tapes in some version or another.
Guild's new release in their laudable Toscanini Broadcast Legacy brings three works that were the core of a 1938 NBC concert. Rossini's 'Cenerentola' Overture fairly bristles with ebullient beauty and lithe brilliance whilst the recording has come up quite astonishingly for its age. Toscanini's tempi are almost manically fast but the excitement that he manages to whip up is quite magical. Richard Strauss's 'Don Quixote' is a work that did not feature so often in Toscanini programmes but this performance with Feuermann and Cooley is definitely out of the top drawer. At 38 minutes, it must be one of the fastest Don Quixote's ever, quite an interesting contrast with Krauss and Fournier on their legendary 1953 recording. Finally there's another blistering Beethoven Fifth that confirms the Italian greatness in this sort of repertoire. As usual, Guild's notes are a model of detail and information with appropriate session photographs included in the booklet. This is another fine version to add to the Toscanini Broadcast Legacy.
Copyright © 2002, Gerald Fenech
