These CDs preserve all the music that was played in four concerts
that Arturo Toscanini gave with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in June
1935. As Christopher Dyment relates in his detailed and fascinating
booklet notes, this was not the Maestro’s first London appearance
but hitherto he had never conducted an indigenous orchestra due to
the questionable quality of British orchestras. The formation of the
BBC Symphony Orchestra in 1930 quickly changed perceptions and several
leading conductors conducted the new orchestra with great success
within a couple of years of its foundation. A concerto appearance
with the orchestra in 1934 by Toscanini’s son-in-law, Horowitz,
seems to have sealed the deal and the Maestro duly arrived in 1935
for four concerts - with no less than twenty rehearsals. The BBC has
been much criticised in recent years for paying vast salaries to presenters
and so-called celebrities so it’s interesting to note that back
in 1935 Toscanini was paid a fee of £500 per concert, which
apparently equates to £27,000 or $40,000 today: even then stars
commanded a premium!
All four concerts were broadcast by the BBC but recording them for
commercial release was a very different matter. HMV, led by Fred Gaisberg,
were desperate to record the concerts, Mr Dyment details the lengthy,
tortuous negotiations between HMV and Toscanini and his representatives
over recording. The Maestro eventually consented just before the second
concert - the first concert, on June 3, was recorded secretly in the
hope that permission would be forthcoming. However, all subsequent
efforts to get Toscanini to hear and approve the recordings for release
were unsuccessful with the result that the masters languished in the
EMI vaults for decades. Most, if not all, of the recordings were eventually
issued but so far as I’m aware this is the first time that they’ve
been assembled as a set dedicated just to the 1935 concerts.
Toscanini selected for these concerts repertoire that played to many
of his particular strengths - Brahms, Wagner and Beethoven were all
included. These discs include many magnificent performances but even
among all this excellence two readings stand out, I think. The
Brahms
Fourth Symphony is given a towering performance. Christopher Dyment
points out the influence of Fritz Steinbach, not least in respect
of the flexibility of tempo. I was struck by the way in which Toscanini
minutely and expressively shapes the
Andante moderato, which
he takes at quite a measured pace. The music is moulded from bar to
bar yet at the same time Toscanini achieves a seamless flow. The
Allegro
giocoso is vitally energetic and the performance is crowned by
a tremendously powerful and penetrating account of the great passacaglia
finale.
The other exceptional performance is that of
La Mer,
which EMI issued some years ago in their Great Recordings of the Century
series, coupled with the 1935
‘Enigma’ Variations.
This work has become such a staple of the repertoire that it’s
something of a surprise to recall that this Toscanini performance
took place only thirty years after it was unveiled to the public;
so in 1935 one might say it could still be regarded as ‘contemporary
music’. Toscanini’s interpretation is simply riveting
and I was amazed by how much internal detail comes through; that’s
a tribute to the conductor and to Fred Gaisberg and his team. By any
standards this is a great performance and the BBC Symphony Orchestra
acquits itself admirably. Toscanini gets so much light and shade into
the music and so much flow. I found that I really got a sense not
just of surface waves and ripples but also of eddying currents under
the surface, especially in the second movement, ‘Jeux de vagues’.
There’s real turbulence in ‘Dialogue du vent et de la
mer’, which Toscanini makes positively elemental.
It’s fascinating to hear the Maestro in Elgar. I believe London
had already heard him in this work during his 1930 visit with the
New York Philharmonic. He leads a well-characterised account of the
‘Enigma’ Variations. ‘Troyte’
and ‘G.R.S’ are tossed off with fire and flair - perhaps
too much so for some tastes but it’s exhilarating. I like the
way ‘Nimrod’ flows - Toscanini plays it as a tribute,
not an elegy - though he rather spoils it for me by a grandiose slowing
for the final climax (2:35). ‘Dorabella’ is invested with
lightness and grace but Toscanini doesn’t introduce the shy
little hesitations that are such an endearing feature of this miniature
portrait. The finale has a fine sweep to it; Toscanini plays the music
with thrust and, at times, genuine grandeur and it’s no surprise
that the London audience accorded him a vociferous ovation.
Some of the Wagner is very special.
Siegfried’s Death
and Funeral Music is intense and nobly tragic. Toscanini generates
tremendous power in the Funeral Music; you can sense his magnetism.
The BBCSO play as if their lives depended on it but, sadly, there’s
immediate applause as the music expires. The
Act I Prelude
to Parsifal is, if anything, finer still. The music
has a spiritual intensity and even 78 years later the visionary way
in which Toscanini communicates this music still enthrals.
I enjoyed the
‘Haffner’ Symphony. I had wondered
if it might be hard-driven but such is not the case. Indeed, the
Menuetto
is particularly winning. The minuet has a sturdy grace and the way
Toscanini eases into the trio is delectable while the phrases of the
trio itself are almost caressed. Elsewhere, the
Andante is
graceful and the finale is done with real brio; the BBC strings articulate
the notes wonderfully.
Beethoven’s Seventh generally
comes off well. The loud chords at the start of the Introduction are
very
sec, indeed brusque, and I feared this might presage a
tough reading. However, I don’t believe it is, though it’s
certainly purposeful. The Introduction is taut, the harbinger of a
highly charged
Vivace. The Scherzo is explosive - in the right
way - and Toscanini doesn’t dawdle in the trio. The finale flashes
and blazes but the music is always disciplined; Aubrey Brain and the
BBC horn section play exultantly.
Brain is heard to even better advantage in the Nocturne from
A
Midsummer Night’s Dream. This is quite beautifully done,
Toscanini phrasing the music warmly. The Scherzo that follows is gossamer
light. What a shame that Mendelssohn’s wonderful Overture didn’t
feature in these programmes.
Besides all the music that was heard in these four remarkable concerts,
WHRA offers us a bonus in the shape of one of the Beethoven recordings
that Toscanini recorded with the BBC orchestra under studio conditions
in 1939.
I don’t know what the source materials for these recordings
are - WHRA acknowledges Gene Pollioni for the loan of “rare
source material”. However, these new (2012) transfers by Gene
Gaudette seem to me to be very successful. Surface noise is absent
so far as I could tell and though the recordings have inevitable limitations
- as you’d expect given the age of the original recordings and
the demanding conditions under which Gaisberg and his colleagues must
have worked - it’s amazing how well the performances come across
and how much detail can be heard. I can honestly say that in no way
was my appreciation and enjoyment of these remarkable performances
inhibited by the sound. I’ve been able to do a limited amount
of comparison. In 1999 BBC Legends issued Toscanini’s 1939 BBC
recording of Beethoven’s
Missa Solemnis (BBCL
4016-2). The two-disc set also included the performances of the ‘Haffner’
Symphony and the Cherubini overture that are included in this WHRA
set. There’s also the 1935 Beethoven Seventh Symphony. However,
this was given twice in this concert series - on 12 and 14 June -
and the BBC Legends set includes the former performance while WHRA
have the second one. The BBC Legends transfer of the Mozart is a good
one; the sound is rather brighter than on the WHRA set, which some
listeners may prefer, but there’s quite noticeable hiss which
WHRA have eliminated. WHRA achieve far more presence in their Cherubini
transfer, which is a clear winner in my view. As with the Mozart,
there’s hiss on the Legends transfer of the Beethoven.
This WHRA set is a splendid one. The sound quality is good while the
documentation is fully up to the label’s usually high standards.
As for the music-making, well the quality of that is quite exceptional.
And remember, this is Toscanini working as a guest with a relatively
young orchestra with which he’d not previously worked. Even
on twenty rehearsals the results are remarkable. Adrian Boult must
have been thrilled to hear the orchestra that he’d created and
trained give such a fine account of itself; no wonder Toscanini was
willing to come back to conduct them again. This set will be self-recommending
to all acolytes of the Maestro who don’t already possess all
these performances but it should also be snapped up by all who value
great conducting.
John Quinn
Track listing
CD 1 [62:58]
Luigi CHERUBINI (1760-1842)
Anacreon - Overture [10:30]
Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897)
Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98 [38:55]
Richard WAGNER (1813-1883)
Götterdämmerung, Act III - Siegfried’s Death and Funeral
Music [13:17]
CD 2 [68:26]
Sir Edward ELGAR (1857-1934)
Variations on an original theme (‘Enigma’), Op. 36 [27:17]
Richard WAGNER
A Faust Overture [12:35]
Parsifal - Prelude to Act 1 [15:20] Act II Fanfare and Good Friday Music
[11:34]
CD 3 [54:49]
Francesco GEMINIANI (1687-1762)
Concerto Grosso in G minor, Op. 3, No. 2 [8:07]
Gioachino ROSSINI (1792-1868)
Semiramide - Overture [12:02]
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92 [34:28]
CD 4 [69:09]
Claude DEBUSSY (1862-1918)
La Mer - Three Symphonic Sketches [22:35]
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
Symphony No. 35 in D, K 385 (‘Haffner’) [19:32]
Felix MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream - Incidental Music, Op. 61: Nocturne
[5:48]; Scherzo [4:21]
Encore: Ludwig van BEETHOVEN
The Creatures of Prometheus - Overture, Op. 43* [4:46]
