TOSCANINI The Complete 1939 Beethoven Cycle (1939) - PABX023

On 28 October 1939, Arturo Toscanini took to the podium with his NBC Symphony Orchestra to begin what would be a unique series of six concerts: his only recorded Beethoven integral symphony cycle. Over six weekly concert broadcasts Toscanini would conduct all nine symphonies, roughly in order, together with various overtures, excerpts and other works, most interestingly the Choral Fantasy, Op. 80. This was coupled with the Ninth "Choral" Symphony in a special broadcast live from Carnegie Hall (the other concerts took place in his more usual radio studio venue), and constitutes the only recorded example of him conducting this work ever. Mortimer H. Frank suggests that Toscanini considered conducting the work again in 1952 in London but dropped the idea - he also suggests this may have been the only time Toscanini ever conducted the Choral Fantasy.

As with our recent issues of Toscanini conducting Russian music (PASC548) and the music of Richard Strauss (PASC549), I have been able to access source recordings of unprecedented quality, taken from acetate discs recorded directly by NBC and almost certainly not played since. For optimal sound quality this is crucial - the delicate surfaces of these discs are prone to immediate deterioration when played, especially when the weighty pick-ups in common use in the 1940s were used, resulting in distortion, higher background noise, and potential loss of high frequencies and other details. Previous issues have relied on Toscanini's own copies, discs which have seen considerable wear and use over the years.

The use of these new source discs translates directly into remarkable audio quality, with quiet backgrounds and a particularly wide frequency range - and sound quality that would have been considered excellent on a hi-fi era LP record from twenty or more years later. The use of the latest audio restoration technology brings with it rock-solid pitching, excellent tonal balance, and a clean, clear sound quality throughout. Small details shine through, with exquisite tonal shading that may previously have been overlooked can now clearly audible - take a listen to our example above and the subtle shading of the trumpets for the chords at 2:17, for example.

Each of the concert broadcasts ran for longer than was usual, and it has been necessary to trim some of the commentary from these recordings in order to fit each one onto a single CD release without cutting any of the music. The amount of speech editing will vary from release to release, but the intention is to preserve as much as possible the occasion as heard some 80 years ago - this is, we believe, the first time they have been presented as broadcast in this manner. Certainly they have never sounded as fresh and fine as this before.

Andrew Rose

On 28 October 1939, Arturo Toscanini took to the podium with his NBC Symphony Orchestra to begin what would be a unique series of six concerts: his only recorded Beethoven integral symphony cycle. Over six weekly concert broadcasts Toscanini would conduct all nine symphonies, roughly in order, together with various overtures, excerpts and other works, most interestingly the Choral Fantasy, Op. 80. This was coupled with the Ninth "Choral" Symphony in a special broadcast live from Carnegie Hall (the other concerts took place in his more usual radio studio venue), and constitutes the only recorded example of him conducting this work ever. Mortimer H. Frank suggests that Toscanini considered conducting the work again in 1952 in London but dropped the idea - he also suggests this may have been the only time Toscanini ever conducted the Choral Fantasy.

As with our recent issues of Toscanini conducting Russian music (PASC548) and the music of Richard Strauss (PASC549), I have been able to access source recordings of unprecedented quality, taken from acetate discs recorded directly by NBC and almost certainly not played since. For optimal sound quality this is crucial - the delicate surfaces of these discs are prone to immediate deterioration when played, especially when the weighty pick-ups in common use in the 1940s were used, resulting in distortion, higher background noise, and potential loss of high frequencies and other details. Previous issues have relied on Toscanini's own copies, discs which have seen considerable wear and use over the years.

The use of these new source discs translates directly into remarkable audio quality, with quiet backgrounds and a particularly wide frequency range - and sound quality that would have been considered excellent on a hi-fi era LP record from twenty or more years later. The use of the latest audio restoration technology brings with it rock-solid pitching, excellent tonal balance, and a clean, clear sound quality throughout.

This second concert contained more music than any of the others in the series - only by cutting all commentary and with judicious use of fades during audience applause and trimming of gaps between movements have we been able to fit the entire concert onto a single CD. And if some sides were perhaps less than optimal sonically, they still shine through after restoration, with excellent sound quality throughout as heard in our sample here of the finale from the Symphony No. 4. Certainly this concert has never sounded as fresh and fine as this before.

On 28 October 1939, Arturo Toscanini took to the podium with his NBC Symphony Orchestra to begin what would be a unique series of six concerts: his only recorded Beethoven integral symphony cycle. Over six weekly concert broadcasts Toscanini would conduct all nine symphonies, roughly in order, together with various overtures, excerpts and other works, most interestingly the Choral Fantasy, Op. 80. This was coupled with the Ninth "Choral" Symphony in a special broadcast live from Carnegie Hall (the other concerts took place in his more usual radio studio venue), and constitutes the only recorded example of him conducting this work ever. Mortimer H. Frank suggests that Toscanini considered conducting the work again in 1952 in London but dropped the idea - he also suggests this may have been the only time Toscanini ever conducted the Choral Fantasy.

As with our recent issues of Toscanini conducting Russian music (PASC548) and the music of Richard Strauss (PASC549), I have been able to access source recordings of unprecedented quality, taken from acetate discs recorded directly by NBC and almost certainly not played since. For optimal sound quality this is crucial - the delicate surfaces of these discs are prone to immediate deterioration when played, especially when the weighty pick-ups in common use in the 1940s were used, resulting in distortion, higher background noise, and potential loss of high frequencies and other details. Previous issues have relied on Toscanini's own copies, discs which have seen considerable wear and use over the years.

The use of these new source discs translates directly into remarkable audio quality, with quiet backgrounds and a particularly wide frequency range - and sound quality that would have been considered excellent on a hi-fi era LP record from twenty or more years later. The use of the latest audio restoration technology brings with it rock-solid pitching, excellent tonal balance, and a clean, clear sound quality throughout. On the present volume pitching was a particular issue, with severe wow and flutter to deal with as well as some considerable problems with pitch drift, manifested as a gradual drop over the course of each 10-15 minute side. This is all now fixable thanks to recent developments in digital restoration technologies, employed here possibly for the first time.

Each of the concert broadcasts ran for longer than was usual, and it has been necessary to trim some of the commentary from these recordings in order to fit each one onto a single CD release without cutting any of the music. The amount of speech editing will vary from release to release, but the intention is to preserve as much as possible the occasion as heard some 80 years ago - this is, we believe, the first time they have been presented as broadcast in this manner. Certainly they have never sounded as fresh and fine as this before.

On 28 October 1939, Arturo Toscanini took to the podium with his NBC Symphony Orchestra to begin what would be a unique series of six concerts: his only recorded Beethoven integral symphony cycle. Over six weekly concert broadcasts Toscanini would conduct all nine symphonies, roughly in order, together with various overtures, excerpts and other works, most interestingly the Choral Fantasy, Op. 80. This was coupled with the Ninth "Choral" Symphony in a special broadcast live from Carnegie Hall (the other concerts took place in his more usual radio studio venue), and constitutes the only recorded example of him conducting this work ever. Mortimer H. Frank suggests that Toscanini considered conducting the work again in 1952 in London but dropped the idea - he also suggests this may have been the only time Toscanini ever conducted the Choral Fantasy.

As with our recent issues of Toscanini conducting Russian music (PASC548) and the music of Richard Strauss (PASC549), I have been able to access source recordings of unprecedented quality, taken from acetate discs recorded directly by NBC and almost certainly not played since. For optimal sound quality this is crucial - the delicate surfaces of these discs are prone to immediate deterioration when played, especially when the weighty pick-ups in common use in the 1940s were used, resulting in distortion, higher background noise, and potential loss of high frequencies and other details. Previous issues have relied on Toscanini's own copies, discs which have seen considerable wear and use over the years.

The use of these new source discs translates directly into remarkable audio quality, with quiet backgrounds and a particularly wide frequency range - and sound quality that would have been considered excellent on a hi-fi era LP record from twenty or more years later. The use of the latest audio restoration technology brings with it rock-solid pitching, excellent tonal balance, and a clean, clear sound quality throughout. As with previous releases there were some speed (and thus pitch) differences between disc sides, as well as a degree of wow and flutter, though in the case of this volume neither was as extreme as seen on previous volumes.

Each of the concert broadcasts ran for longer than was usual, and it has been necessary to trim some of the commentary from these recordings in order to fit each one onto a single CD release without cutting any of the music. The amount of speech editing will vary from release to release, but the intention is to preserve as much as possible the occasion as heard some 80 years ago - this is, we believe, the first time they have been presented as broadcast in this manner.

This fifth concert contained significantly less music than any of the other concerts, and so we have been able to retain much more of the radio commentary. In general where this is lengthy it has been tracked separately so that it can be skipped if required. It is the only volume where we have been able to include the interval talk by Samuel Chotzinoff, who looks into the impact on Beethoven of his brother's early death and the ensuing difficulties over the adoption of his nephew and the ultimate effect of this emotional trauma on Beethoven's later work. Including this talk, which lasts almost 9 minutes, meant some minor editing in other links and the loss of the pay-off after the final applause had been faded out, but otherwise it offers a much closer impression of the actual radio broadcasts than has been possible in the other volumes of this series, due to the time restrictions inherent in audio CDs.

As with the previous volumes, the sound quality here is once again excellent, if a little less "open" in its dynamic range as a result of a degree of audio compression used at the time of broadcast to limit peak volumes. The audio sample here of the opening movement of the Symphony No. 8, which you're hearing in its 320kbps MP3 format, gives a good example of the otherwise excellent sound quality to be heard throughout this volume.

On 2 December 1939, Arturo Toscanini took to the podium at Carnegie Hall, New York, with his NBC Symphony Orchestra to complete what would prove to have been a unique series of six concerts: his only recorded Beethoven integral symphony cycle. Over six weekly concert broadcasts Toscanini had conducted all nine symphonies, roughly in order, together with various overtures, excerpts and other works - perhaps most interestingly the Choral Fantasy, Op. 80. This was coupled with the Ninth "Choral" Symphony in this special broadcast live from Carnegie Hall (the other concerts took place in his more usual radio studio venue), and constitutes the only recorded example of him conducting this work ever. Mortimer H. Frank suggests that Toscanini considered conducting the work again in 1952 in London but dropped the idea - he also suggests this may have been the only time Toscanini ever conducted the Choral Fantasy.

As with our recent issues of Toscanini conducting Russian music (PASC548) and the music of Richard Strauss (PASC549), I have been able to access source recordings of unprecedented quality, taken from acetate discs recorded directly by NBC and almost certainly not played since. For optimal sound quality this is crucial - the delicate surfaces of these discs are prone to immediate deterioration when played, especially when the weighty pick-ups in common use in the 1940s were used, resulting in distortion, higher background noise, and potential loss of high frequencies and other details. Previous issues have relied on Toscanini's own copies, discs which have seen considerable wear and use over the years.

The use of these new source discs translates directly into remarkable audio quality, with quiet backgrounds and a particularly wide frequency range - and sound quality that would have been considered excellent on a hi-fi era LP record from twenty or more years later. The use of the latest audio restoration technology brings with it rock-solid pitching, excellent tonal balance, and a clean, clear sound quality throughout. As with previous releases there were some speed (and thus pitch) differences between disc sides, as well as a degree of wow and flutter, though in the case of this volume neither was as extreme as seen on previous volumes.

Of the six volumes if there is to be heard a dip in sound quality, from the superb to the merely great, it is perhaps here with the final volume. Although once again our discs were in incredibly good condition, they lack the finest edge of quality heard in the studio recordings which preceded the Carnegie Hall concert. A part of this may be down to acoustics. We might also consider the sub-optimal recording conditions by comparison to a dedicated studio with carefully tailored microphones and equipment. A third possibility is that our discs may have been cut at NBC's headquarters having passed down a long analogue line from the concert hall venue and lost a degree of fidelity as a result. I'm prepared to believe all three of these may have played a part.

Nevertheless there is still remarkable sound quality to he heard here - it is in truly excellent shape for an 80-year-old recording, and offers superb fidelity for its 1939 vintage; only up against the previous five volumes might it be held to be anything less than ideal. If I was to give the previous volumes five stars for sound quality then I suggest this would merit four and a half.

A certain amount of gain-riding was clearly being used by the NBC engineers - no great surprise here given the forces involved. In its most blatant and unfortunate application I've endeavoured to correct this, though any correction can only be a mixture of experience, a careful reading of the surrounding musical sections, and an element of educated guesswork.

Each of the concert broadcasts ran for longer than was usual, and it has been necessary to trim some of the commentary from these recordings in order to fit each one onto a single CD release without cutting any of the music. The amount of speech editing has varied from release to release, but the intention is to preserve as much as possible the occasion as heard some 80 years ago - this is, we believe, the first time they have been presented as broadcast in this manner. This final volume came particularly close to requiring a second disc, but by keeping the commentary to a minimal back-announcement at the end of each work and trimming the amount of applause I have been able to keep everything within the bounds of a single disc - helped in no great amount by Toscanini's often brisk tempi!