I can’t imagine that
this famous performance of the Missa
Solemnis would face many detractors
in respect of the fervour and articulacy
of its response. It has long been held
to be the greatest of Toscanini’s extant
traversals and derives from a broadcast
in December 1940; the 1953 NBC set was
his only commercial recording but we
are fortunate that this wartime broadcast
has survived, as have an earlier 1935
broadcast in indifferent sound and an
impressive 1939 BBC broadcast with Milanov,
Thorburg, Koloman von Pataky and Nicola
Moscona (BBC Legends BBCL4016-2).
The vivid drama is
established immediately by the puncturing
trumpets calls. These have given rise
to claims that the recorded balance
is askew; William Youngren in his notes
makes a valiant case for the defence
but I think unavailingly. There are
deficiencies in the sound spectrum but
it could hardly be otherwise in a work
such as this, which requires the most
acute of balancing. Nevertheless apart
from the solo singers, who are forwardly
balanced, the Westminster Choir makes
a splendid impression. They were obviously
well rehearsed by their choirmaster
and sound passionately engaged and tightly
focused in the Kyrie. The orchestra
is equally on top form, responding with
decisive power to Toscanini’s breakneck
speed in the Gloria - which after a
furious start relaxes. Vocally Björling
and Kipnis take the greatest honours
with their unmatched response to the
drama (the former’s entrance in the
Credo is particularly telling, as is
the latter’s nobility and declamation
in the Benedictus). But Castagna, substituting
for the ill Thorburg, is also impressive
in the Sanctus and Milanov joins orchestral
leader Mischa Mischakoff in wondrous
phrasing in the Benedictus. The copies
utilised do have some scuffs – these
are noticeable particularly in the Gloria
and the Agnus Dei but the sound is genuinely
vivid and immediate. As for the performance
it’s incandescent.
Coupled with it is
the famous Heifetz-Toscanini recording
of the Beethoven Violin Concerto made
earlier in the year, once more with
the NBC Orchestra. This has last appeared
on a Naxos disc where it’s conjoined
with the 1939 Heifetz Brahms Violin
Concerto conducted by Koussevitzky -
I reviewed
it on this site and for interpretative
matters I would direct readers there.
Richard Caniell, eminence grise of the
enterprise, notes that this transfer
was undertaken as a result of complaints
regarding the RCA BMG CD transfer. So
for this transfer they have utilised
a commercial set in what they state
to be "a better sonic transfer"
despite very honestly noting that the
originals were "afflicted with
sporadic instances of grit and ticks
not hearable in the RCA disc."
As well as the grit there are also a
few residual thumps familiar to 78 collectors
and also, rather more damagingly, the
loss of a beat and a half in a side
join in the first movement (at 12.42).
Of the two transfers whilst I admire
Guild’s honesty and ambition it’s the
Naxos to which you should turn.
I suspect though that
you will have long ago have acquired
the Heifetz-Toscanini. If you have the
commercial Missa Solemnis I would augment
it with this demonstrably superior and
blazing performance. It’s one of the
greatest, if not the greatest
accounts ever committed to disc.
Jonathan Woolf
Jussi Björling (tenor)