This DVD and Audio
double pack is released in BMG’s ‘Legendary
Visions’ series. The main element is
a substantial filmed documentary about
the life of Toscanini, written by one
of his distinguished biographers, Harvey
Sachs. The American conductor, James
Levine, is described as the Host of
this production and he pops up from
time to time to offer brief reflections
on the Maestro’s career.
I think it would probably
be fair to say that the film breaks
no new ground in its depiction of Toscanini’s
musical life. What we get is a straightforward,
sensible biographical outline. The commentary
stresses Toscanini’s life-long obsession
with high musical standards; though
perhaps it infers a bit too much that
he was a lone standard bearer in this
respect. Very fairly and rightly it
emphasises his principled stance against
Fascism.
Among the recollections
from contemporaries are contributions
from Jarmila Novotna, who sang for him
at the pre-war Salzburg Festivals, and
from the distinguished American singer,
Robert Merrill. These recollections
are fascinating as are those of other
leading singers. However, what particularly
stood out for me were the memories of
several orchestral musicians who played
under the Maestro’s baton in the NBC
Symphony Orchestra. In particular they
lay stress on Toscanini’s stick technique.
It’s interesting to learn that he was
given to big gestures in rehearsal,
where the real work was done, but that
by and large these gestures were eschewed
in performance for fear they might distract
the audience. There are also some very
interesting contributions from Toscanini’s
grandson, Walfredo Toscanini.
All in all I’d say
that this film presents a good, rounded
and thorough portrait of one of the
towering musical figures of the last
century. The still photographs and filmed
extracts, mainly in black and white,
but some in colour, are well chosen.
The film contains a full performance
of Verdi’s egregious Hymn of the
Nations. Despite the pleasure of
Jan Peerce’s ringing tenor solos I think
just an extract would have been sufficient.
The accompanying audio
CD offers some very representative examples
of Toscanini’s studio work with the
NBC Symphony. All the music comes from
his core repertoire and the chosen pieces
show the Maestro at the height of his
very considerable powers. I think I’d
heard all the performances before but
I enjoyed everything. I particularly
relished his powerful account of the
overture to La forza del destino
where he conducts Verdi’s singing
lines incomparably but invests the dramatic
sections with real bite and tension.
The drawback to this
valuable set is the deplorable documentation.
The booklet, if one may use that term,
consists of nothing but the Italian
text of Hymn of the Nations accompanied
by a poor English translation plus translations
in French and German. Why was no text
or translation of Va pensiero provided?
Just as serious is the lack of any significant
documentation about the film itself
(when was it made, for instance?) or
about such matters as the dates of the
audio recordings. This is a regrettable
omission. So far as I can tell, in the
absence of any information to the contrary,
the DVD is not separated into sections;
one really has to watch the film in
its entirety. I didn’t find that a hardship
at all but it would be nice to have
the facility to sample brief extracts
if necessary.
However, the set is
very valuable nonetheless and I believe
it presents a good visual and audio
portrait of this great conductor.
John Quinn
BMG
RCA RED SEAL 82876 58242 9 [48’09"]