For those of you who
see little point in purchasing two discs
of a conductor rehearsing an opera (speaking
in Italian), then you need to know that
this set includes over half an hour
of continuous run-through with the singers.
These rehearsals were
recorded in New York in March 1950 prior
to two NBC broadcast performances the
following month from which an RCA commercial
recording was made. Some people think
that the rehearsal run-through of two
of the scenes is better performed than
the subsequent recording. So there’s
at least one reason for buying this
set.
Received wisdom has
Toscanini (1867-1957) as the twentieth
century’s greatest conductor. This could
be dismissed as public myth following
on from the cult that built up around
him during his lifetime. Yet he was
hugely respected by many of his professional
peers. For example, veteran French conductor
Pierre Monteux thought him, "the
greatest of all".
What these rehearsals
display is a combination of professional
efficiency and inspiration. Toscanini
packed as much as he could into rehearsal
time, operating at energy and stamina
levels that led him to be frighteningly
intolerant of those who were not keeping
up. On disc 1 we can hear the maestro
driving the orchestra at the beginning
of Act II and singing the characters
himself, not always in tune but with
a dramatic commitment that some of the
stars themselves find hard to match
when they arrive. On listening to this
it is almost impossible to believe that
Toscanini was celebrating his eighty-third
birthday at the time. Occasionally there
is slight confusion which derives from
the fact that Toscanini is rehearsing
from memory, a habit largely the result
of poor eyesight. When he wants to restart
at a different point in the score he
calls out the words of a singer's text
to identify the place whereas what the
players need is the number of the rehearsal
point printed in the score. They do
not have the words!
For those who have
never seen an orchestra rehearsed and
think that conducting is largely a matter
of throwing your arms about during performance
then these discs will be confounding.
There is an irony here in Toscanini’s
case in that, by all accounts, he threw
himself around like someone possessed
in rehearsal but at performance was
physically controlled and economical.
The practice betrayed his ambition of
arriving at performance with an orchestra
so well prepared that it knew exactly
what was required in advance. A possible
cost though could be that a more fizzing
performance might have been left behind
at the rehearsal. This could well be
the case here. The run-through on disc
2 is of the first two scenes of Act
1 and benefits from that special frisson
that Toscanini generated in rehearsal.
It also follows, significantly, one
of Toscanini’s temper tantrums. These
were legend and sometimes resulted in
a broken baton. It was during these
rehearsals that he famously smashed
his watch. The incident I referred to
previously here involves Giuseppe Valdengo
who plays the lead role. Toscanini accuses
him of not being in time with the orchestra
and gives him a frightful bollocking.
This is accompanied by loud cracking
sounds which I assume to be the conductor
smashing his baton down on something
– hopefully not Valdengo’s head. The
singer meekly replies "Si, signore",
which drives Toscanini into an even
deeper rage, the reason not being clear
but might have been because the conductor
was not being addressed as "Maestro".
It sounds quite shameful behaviour on
Toscanini’s part.
Threat of assault would
not have been the only thing to intimidate
singers on this occasion. Toscanini's
credentials as a Verdi conductor were
formidable and unsurpassable. He had
first conducted Falstaff fifty-five
years before - only a year after the
1893 premiere. Seven years before that
he was in the pit at La Scala playing
the cello at the premier of Otello.
In fact he conducted Falstaff
more than any other opera and these
discs give us a chance to hear a man
trying to squeeze the utmost out of
players and singers to achieve his vision
of an opera that was the nearest thing
to his favourite. The respect is not
just for the music. He spends a great
deal of time ensuring that the words
are inflected properly and are heard.
Much effort is put into achieving balance,
sometimes holding the orchestra down
and, when appropriate, seeking to achieve
chamber textures. "Everybody play quartet
here", he says in English to the strings
at one point.
Buying these discs
will allow you to own, at bargain price,
an important historical document on
conducting and to hear one of the greatest
conductors lavishing love on an opera
once described by him as "the most beautiful
of all".
John Leeman
NBC Symphony Orchestra/Arturo Toscanini 
