TOSCANINI Brahms in London, Volume 2 (1952) - PASC377

REVIEW Symphonies 3 and 4

As I have already suggested, this performance of the Third Symphony is the finest Toscanini has left us. As if to illuminate the point further, Manoug Parikian, the leader of the Philharmonia Orchestra for these Toscanini concerts, later said that for him the most sublime and unforgettable moment of the series was the third movement of the Third Symphony. The opening cello theme had, according to Parikian, an unusual tenderness to it that stirred the depths of human feeling. It was, he added, "...one of my most profoundly moving experiences, and a lasting reminder of Toscanini's undoubted genius".

Great recordings of this work are thin on the ground, possibly because it is Brahms' most misunderstood symphony. It is a work that combines passion and resignation in equal measure and few conductors have been able to unite those two contrasting facets into a workable performance. This is the symphony where Toscanini's tempi are most diverse - the first movement of this Philharmonia account is almost 1½ minutes faster than on his NBC recording. Because this symphony, the most unique of all Brahms' symphonies in that it ends all of its movements piano or pianissimo, is so emotionally complex it is surprising that Toscanini, ever the objectivist, is actually able to encourage the Philharmonia to play with such astonishing weight and passion. The first movement positively surges, the finale opens in an exhilarating fashion, with strings astoundingly fleet. In between, the contrasts between the melancholic phrasing and wild outbursts are laid bare. Pianissimos are here given suppleness, and the most fearsome fortes seem to come from the core of the earth, so shattering are they. No wonder this performance is one of the most memorable things Toscanini did in his last years.

Almost as memorable, in fact, as the astonishing Fourth. This was the symphony Toscanini most admired by Brahms - and one can see why. It is a work of greatness, moving between tragedy and wild exclamation, often within the same movement. Just as it is the culmination of Brahms' symphonic output, so it is the epoch making performance on this cycle. This is the greatest single performance in Toscanini's NBC cycle and this Philharmonia account is as inspired as that, perhaps the single most impressive 'live' Fourth ever recorded (and notably different from an equally great Fourth from Celibidache with the Munich Philharmonic).

The conception is laid out in the grandest of terms, the opening bars given astonishing presence. The development is built up inexorably, and the coda to the first movement, still noble and statuesque, generates enormous energy. Toscanini, crucially, does not slow before the timpani enter near the penultimate bar, and thus the climactic ending actually gathers momentum. There is no mannerism here, just the thrill of hearing the closing bars as they should be played. The second and third movements appear in this performance more than just intervals before the extraordinary unwrapping of the great passacaglia of the final movement. True, we hear the intervention of fireworks from the roof of the Festival Hall, but Toscanini remains unfazed and the listener cannot fail to be unaware of the very conscious build up of the layers of this extraordinary movement. The music arches forward nobly and naturally, the dynamics amplified by some of the finest wind playing on any recording of the work. Horns are given astonishing girth, strings play with the most sensitive of balance. Toscanini does hold back in the final moments of the movement's coda, but this allows the inevitability of the triumphant finale to reach its apogee. The moment is sublime.

Marc Bridle, MusicWeb International, April 2000