TOSCANINI Brahms in London, Volume 1 (1952) – PASC373 plus qu’un jeu

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TOSCANINI Brahms in London, Volume 1 (1952) – PASC373
overviewfb55cd020f0643f08418183279e63a5f

BRAHMS Tragic Overture
BRAHMS Symphony No. 1
BRAHMS Symphony No. 2
Recorded in London in 1952
Total duration:1hr 38:21

The Philharmonia Orchestra
Arturo Toscanini conductor

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It is easy to get tired of reading reviewers
gushing about remastering: how great it sounds, how much detail you’ll
hear that you never heard before, how it makes you experience the event
in ways you never thought possible. Collectors interested in historical
recordings are inundated with that sort of hype, but once in a while,
all of the hype doesn’t even add up to the truths uncovered by hearing a
much-loved recording over which obvious restorative care has been
taken. Simply put, Andrew Rose has restored these Brahms recordings in a
way that is nothing short of miraculous! Beyond this, he has fashioned
each of the two volumes to bring the listener as close as possible to
experiencing the concert in full.

Volume 1 presents the Tragic Overture
and the first two symphonies. My previous acquaintance with Toscanini’s
much-discussed 1952 Philharmonia Brahms had been with a Testament
version, released some 17 years ago following much anticipation. The
music was a revelation, but the sound was, frankly, a let-down. It was
boxy, bass-heavy, and shrill, an overall constricted experience. I could
not imagine that even a restoration engineer with Rose’s experience
could work enough magic to raise such subpar sonics to a level of
artistry commensurate with the music. Hearing these recordings afresh, a
new sense of space and atmosphere imbues every bar, allowing
Toscanini’s vision of the pieces to be heard afresh.

The trajectory is clear from the first two chords of the highly charged Tragic Overture.
A reluctance to overindulge in Romantic sentiment is balanced with an
energy level so high as to be dangerous. For another point of reference,
listen to the first crescendo of the First Symphony’s fourth movement. A
minor peak is scaled, but mountain and molehill are never confused.
This is a crescendo in perfect context, and the descent from E♭ to
G-Minor sonorities is luminous without overemphasis. Dwelling on that
fourth movement, the brass chorale has a beautiful sense of loftiness
and some distance, fluffed notes and all, and the entrance of the
ubiquitous string theme is as transcendent as it must have been in the
Royal Festival Hall. Revel in the slow but inevitable crescendo as the
variations build to understand just what Toscanini accomplished with
this excellent orchestra.

The fact that the Second Symphony hasn’t even been
mentioned says nothing about its merits as a performance. The easy
grace with which the first movement opens is complemented by the
pastoral charm of its third movement, and as ugly as the Philharmonia
winds can sound on some recordings of the late 1940s, they are in
excellent form here. For anyone who accuses Toscanini of rigidity (and
in the past I have been among them), listen to the luscious strings at
1:22 of the fourth movement as the Maestro slows the tempo just a shade.
That shade makes all the difference, and the wild applause at
movement’s conclusion is more than deserved.

Volume 2, the second concert which was broadcast two days later, finds Toscanini conducting the so-called Haydn Variations
along with the Third and Fourth Symphonies. The variations feature some
really fine brass playing, and Toscanini manages to expose a lot more
of Brahms’s counterpoint, set against those continually off-balance
phrases, than I’d previously suspected, again down to this refreshing
new restoration. Again though, the symphonies steal the show. I marvel
every time at the string accents Toscanini coaxes from the Philharmonia
in the Third’s first movement and at the gorgeously balanced brass,
woodwinds, and strings gracing the second’s opening. It is difficult to
fathom how anyone can resist the fourth movement’s drama, shot through
with more of those staggeringly precise string accents; was the
Philharmonia ever a fine orchestra!

The best was saved for last. After a stirring
intermission address from Adrian Boult, the mighty Fourth sums up the
achievements of this monumental cycle. Especially memorable, amidst the
towering strength and explosive power of the passacaglia, are the
delicacy of the woodwinds and strings as they alternate chords, yes,
even despite the firecrackers that could have interrupted the
performance.

How best to describe the thrilling conclusion, its
slow and interrupted build, those arpeggios, that last chord, and the
wild applause that follows? Perhaps it’s this sense of occasion that
makes the Pristine version of these historically important concerts so
satisfying. Getting so much sound out of the performances is a major
accomplishment, but stitching together the announcements, applause, and
music so that the seams are nearly invisible defies description; the
work that went into such a project must have been as intensive as it has
been rewarding to hear the results. In this case, I cannot recommend
the ambient stereo version strongly enough. Sit down, put on the
headphones or make sure you’re positioned correctly for stereo, and
travel back to Toscanini’s first appearance in London since 1939. In his
intermission talk, Boult poeticizes:

“ … we heard the music bathed in a brilliant
light, with every detail crystal clear and eloquent in a way we hadn’t
heard before.” With this restoration, his meaning becomes as clear and
palpable as the music itself. If any set of Brahms symphonies deserves
to be in Fanfare’s Hall of Fame, this is the one!

Marc Medwin

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Toscanini’s classic first 1952 London Brahms concert in stunning XR-remastered sound

« One of the very best (and most exciting) recordings of the work available » – MusicWeb International

Following our release last year of an XR-remastered
edition of Toscanini’s 1951 Carnegie Hall Brahms symphonies with the NBC
Symphony Orchestra, I was repeatedly urged to tackle the London series
he conducted in the Autumn of the following year. This is the first of
two volumes, each dedicated to one of those two memorable concerts. The
effect of Toscanini’s return to the British capital for the first time
since before the Second World War and the enthusiasm of the response of
the music-lovers of Britain has been well-documented, as has the
brilliance both of the Philharmonia Orchestra at this time, and the
superb performances Toscanini elicited from it over two nights of
Brahms.

These remasterings aim to bring the listener closer than
ever to the magic of those nights, beginning and closing with excerpts
of BBC radio commentary setting the stage, and the (edited!) rapturous
applause reproduced. Much of this extra content was drawn from AM
broadcast recordings which have taken some considerable effort to weave
into the much high quality music recordings made by EMI. Happily the
latter have responded brilliantly to Pristine’s 32-bit XR remastering
system, with a sound that’s full, vibrant and very much alive –
particularly do in our Ambient Stereo versions of this release.

Andrew Rose

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• BRAHMS Tragic Overture, Op. 81 
• BRAHMS Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68
• BRAHMS Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73

  The Philharmonia Orchestra 
  Arturo Toscanini conductor

  Recorded live at the Royal Festival Hall, London, 29 September 1952
  Recording includes announcements and comments from the BBC Third Programme
  BBC Announcer: Richard Baker 
  Music content derived from high quality EMI recordings, produced by Walter Legge
  

XR remastering by Andrew Rose at Pristine Audio, January 2013
Cover artwork based on a photograph of Arturo Toscanini

Total duration:1hr 38:21

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REVIEW Symphonies 1 and 2

The performances of the symphonies are
compelling – and certainly much warmer and more lyrical than his
recorded cycle with the NBC Symphony Orchestra. As interpretations, they
rather contradict the impression that all Toscanini performances were
somehow symmetrically constructed, with tempos often staggeringly
similar from performance to performance. With the exceptions of the
First and Fourth Symphonies, these Philharmonia accounts are often less
expansive than the NBC cycle he recorded in late 1951/early 1952. The
notable achievement in this cycle is the Third Symphony which here
receives the most assured of all Toscanini’s interpretations of this
symphony – a performance of considerable sunniness with the most
beautiful of cantabile ever-present. This contrasts with the NBC
recording which is slow, lacks rhythmic tension and seems drawn
downwards by an interminably long beat.

The First Symphony is a powerful
performance, although as in all Toscanini’s interpretations of this work
he fails to conduct the opening bars of the work as they should be.
These opening bars, with its unrelenting timpani strokes, are amongst
the most grand and profoundly moving of all passages in the symphonic
canon, yet Toscanini, like virtually most conductors, seems confused by
Brahms’ marking of sostenuto. Taken at almost quaver 100, the
development of the opening timpani seems too fast – and he accelerates
the timpani ruining the grand line that Brahm’s intended (and for which
you have to turn to Furtwängler or Celibidache to hear correctly
played). This aside, however, the movement develops inexorably, with the
contrapuntalism of Brahm’s construction not only implied, but grandly
developed. Dynamics, whilst not as scrupulously observed as Celibidache
(the most inspired interpreter of this symphony) are actually more
clearly heard in this Philharmonia account than in his NBC recording of
the work. The opening drum rolls, even if tempi are wayward, do clearly
distinguish between the opening f and the concluding ff, and in the
first movement’s main theme cellos, woodwind and horns play perfectly
before the appearance of the crescendo. In fact, the care given to the
woodwind is an example of this performance’s individualism, and this is
no more evident than in the finale with its horn and flute melodies,
here played gorgeously by Dennis Brain and Gareth Morris. The playing
here is certainly more distinctive than on the NBC recording, and
recalls another Philharmonia recording of the First Symphony with Guido
Cantelli (a performance remarkably similar to this one). The trombone’s
missed entry in the finale (and then his fluffed notes) do not
noticeably ruin what is one of the very best (and most exciting)
recordings of the work available.

Listening to the opening of the Second
Symphony, with its low strings and horn and woodwind exchanges, I was
amazed at how much presence exists in this Testament transfer. Toscanini
was reputedly somewhat worried that string tone was somewhat
undernourished, yet hearing the opening bars and then the entry of the
string’s first theme, one is aware of an extraordinary depth of tone.
Tempi in this symphony are all swifter than in Toscanini’s studio
recording of the work, yet this is never at the expense of the string’s
beautifully phrased playing. The playing is at once lyrical as it is
idyllic, with the tunes given a statuesque presence, the penumbral
shading of Brahms’ scoring spot-lit neatly against the borders of
lighter melody. The second subject of the first movement is as song-like
as one could ask for, the coda intense and evocative. If the middle
movements are gracious, with felicitous woodwind playing, the finale,
marked Allegro con spirito, is as grandiose and driven as any. The
playing is wonderfully dynamic, the development to the coda
remorselessly laid out before us but not overdriven in any way. When the
triumphal coda appears, one of the most astonishing things Brahm’s
wrote (and as similarly transparent as the closing pages of Bruckner’s
Fifth symphony) the exuberance is infectious. The great brass sonorities
are here captured magnificently, strings arching ever higher upwards,
horns and trombones radiant to the close. The cheers at the end say it
all!

Marc Bridle, MusicWeb International, April 2000

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