Search - Brahms, Toscanini, NBC So :: Arturo Toscanini Conducts Brahms - The Four Symphonies (1942/43)

Issued for the first time, Arturo Toscanini's 1942-1943 Brahms cycle broadcasts provide a fascinating gloss on his NBC studio versions. While the orchestra is not the uniform ensemble it became in later years, the playing is more variegated, even more old-fashioned in style (i.e., the string portamentos). The Third and Fourth Symphonies fare best, with lyrical, taut playing that sings with luscious flexibility. Toscanini's broad yet tensile First suffers from cramped, overmodulated miking, and strings are backwardly balanced in the Second. Transfers are honestly effected, warts and all, from inside sources. --Jed Distler