Lohengrin: Prelude Act III -- Arturo Toscanini/NBC Symph

[elvispresley718]

i just never get tird of this piece!

[MyHartley1]

Excellence...

[Darthvies]

Sinbad :)

[hazelssister]

Toscannini is cool !  Too bad they did not shave the entire bald head like they do now !

[sinatrabone]

That is a gutsy tempo.

[sinatrabone]

Of course, when you are Toscanini, you can do that. I like it!

[trejovillaf]

Toscanini, casi a una sola mano (derecha) excelente!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­!! Simplemente soberbio Wagner, muy militar y guerrero

[apocalypseinabox]

As one familiar with the NBC recording of these pieces, but having never seen the man in action, I gotta say, with all due respect to Toscanini, this video really cracks me up. My, how baton technique changes! I agree with wisass: The sound is really terrific! kudos for posting it

[paulostroff99]

Superb! TY for posting.

[paulostroff99]

Superb! TY The GreatPerformers for sharing.

[HamiltonConductor]

I read the comments below and see people fighting about if the music is good or not, or if they need a conductor. Everyone misses the point. 80 players is 80 interpretations of the music, the conductor interprets the piece and the musicians perform it his way there is so much MORE to it. For those of you who don't like it then fine don't you have your opinions but this music has been around for hundreds of years and unlike current music will be for hundreds more.

Long live all classical music

[Dustlandindie]

for a moment i wondered where the cellos went . . .

[oakwoodbank]

frostyisag10 1 month ago

"our music now will suck a couple hundred years from now..thats just how it is."

I think it will be very, very much less than 100 years let alone two.

This is a recording that is largely of importance because it is history and Toscanini was one of the best of his time.

[frostyisag10]

it isn't very good..maybe it was a long time ago but this is the 21st century and it now sucks...our music now will suck a couple hundred years from now..thats just how it is.. and they should know when to play soft or loud..its on the sheet of music dude your retarted...i played the piano and guitar for many years and never needed a conductor to help me and i was one of best in my state so hop the fuck off u stupid prick

[fu6079]

再也找不到的好指揮

[frostyisag10]

how do people thing this is good? it's boring in my opinion..it all sounds the same

[Goetterdaemmerung7]

@frostyisag10 Die Walkuere is so best, but you must not be stupid to hear it. If you do not like it it means you're too stupid ... but I thought it was very boring when I first listened, didn't understand either, it requires much attention and time. Listen to Die Walkuere intently and if you cannot still understand you are too dumb. ^^

[frostyisag10]

@Goetterdaemmerung7 uummm ok?? i mean it's all personal opinion and there are some classical type songs that i do enjoy such as canon and and i can play beethoven's 9th symphony on the piano so it's not that i'm stupid...i just don't understand how people still like this kind of music...in my OWN OPINION it's boring and all sound the same...i just don't like it

[Goetterdaemmerung7]

@frostyisag10 Don't say "uummm ok??'' and still want not to be called stupid. I don't love this one either but you should hear "Du zeugtest ein edles Geschlecht" and "Der Augen leuchtendes Paar".

[frostyisag10]

@Goetterdaemmerung7 just listened to them and they are boring...the music clearly isn't very good..that's all there is to it..and who the hell needs a conductor when they have the music right in front of their face? i mean if they are a good musician then they don't need a conductor up there waving his arm(s) to keep them in the right meter

[Goetterdaemmerung7]

@frostyisag10 Do you think they need a conductor? I am sure they instruct only about when to play loud, when to play soft, fast or slow ect. Do you think that all that is on a music sheet can also be expressed in someone's arms' movements? Beside that it is not the musicians as much as it is the fist writer: Herr Richard Wagner. It is very high class, and not for dumb simple people, if it "isn't very good" it wouldn't be so cherished and influential for people as monumental as Adolf Hitler.

[Reisertiel]

This music is so German. respect points +1,000,000

[EstefanDedalus]

153000 views...It deserves at least one 0 next to those other 0s :)

[U2becommenter]

Wagner was so racist. He would put on gloves to conduct music of those he didn't like... but his music is soooooo beautiful!

[bimhimbim]

@U2becommenter Maybe he also eat peanut butter and drank beer...

[NathanArnoldCharging]

Everytime I hear this, I think of the opening to "READY TO RUMBLE", as this is playing in the beginning of the movie... a movie I was an extra in! (=

[WimGrundy]

It was always a treat when daddy dug out the Toscanini BEETHOVEN Symphonies on a Sunday afternoon, and now we can treat ourselves...whenever! All hail YouTube: grandest medium since Gutenberg!

[Tulcas002]

epic  german great

[ciottox]

è  il bello dell'estro musicale di Wagner e un direttore italiano che nel mondo non potremo piu ritrovare !! mi piace

[fudbot]

I first heard this watching the original Clash of the Titans...I'm a nerd!!!!!

[al1936ful]

@fudbot They didn't play this music in the original "Clash of the Titans".

[BigBadBill2323]

@al1936ful Don't know your age, but you might recall parts of this music being used in the "Buck Rogers" serial TV shows.

Usually the "Space ship" on the visible wire, with the sparkler shooting out its' butt...

[Tulcas002]

oldschool... einfach gut

[KBILLYTBE2010]

5 people never watched Woody Woodpecker's "under the counter spy"

[gaemp]

I admire him since my childhood, but very often I don't like his idea of Music.... too mechanic, too fast, with no nuances.... too perfect, maybe.

[OneKid122]

a true genious

[MrLazarovega]

What a great music. I love it. every second of it.

[goiabasax1]

genial.........

[ipmoic]

@OldMrGrace--you hit the nail on the head. The studio was designed for clean, non-reverberating AM broadcasts. The crisp, clarity of the studio may have been great for the spoken voice, but NOT for music where some reverberation and warmth of tone would have been enormously beneficial.

When I hear the thinness of the woodwinds and the tinny overall effect it makes me furious. I wish now that ALL the NBC Concerts had emanated from Carnegie Hall.

Of course, the performance itself is a marvel!

[AmericanEvita]

Toscanini has been called the greatest conductor of all time. He was said to be a tyrannical disciplinarian and demanded perfection from his musicians. But he always produced great music as a result. No conductor today can ever achieve his level of greatness. He was unrivaled in the first 50 years of the 20th century. For the second half of the 20th century (1950's to 1980's) the title of greatest conductor fell to Herbert Von Karajan.

[BigBadBill2323]

@AmericanEvita : I think "Labour Laws" might not allow a conductor to push his musicians the way Toscanini did... look at the fairly recent brouhaha with the Montreal Symphony and its former conductor...

Also, on a "bloopers" LP I heard, I recall a recording of Toscanini destroying his oak podium in a fit of rage over some point of technique with (perhaps) the NBC Orchestra?

[paulostroff99]

Superb

[bill18286]

@martinlesniak no, this is the original key, original speed

[martinlesniak]

I think this is sped up because i tried to play along with it with my orchestra notes and its wayyyyyy higher in pitch...a beautiful piece nonetheless!!!!

[SteveAndrewLangford]

@martinlesniak For many others, that was their greatest technicality against Toscanini, his 'brisk' tempo with a great number of pieces.

[Poltroon]

It's also on the soundtrack for John Boorman's Excalibur. Boorman's use of O Fortuna and Siegfried's Funeral March (Gotterdammerung) is more widely remembered, but this is there as well and most definitely kicks arse!

[ryhorn77]

This is Beautiful, I remember hearing this in the Woody Woodpecker cartoon. hsausahuas. Great piece.

[mary75mm]

Se non ci fosse stato Wagner io sarei già morta !!!

[THELINDGRENN]

Wagner a genius that comes across once every few century!

[loufalce]

This piece WAS the best song in the entire movie "Help", bar none!

[Goldberg1337]

I remember this from the fight scene in the Beatles' movie "Help!"--it is superb action music, as well as being a great piece overall, well-conducted by Toscanini. :D

[dhiemart32]

Excelent !

[hoogiman]

brilliant

[JubbaDaTrombone]

I bet the brass musicians are playing on smaller instruments than they do today. Well, I am pretty sure the trombones are anyway. It sounds so good, I wonder why people insist on bigger horns.

[fisk7aal]

Because it sounds even better today.

But different music: different horns.

[BigBadBill2323]

Interesting Orchestra configuration. First and second violins opposite each other... celli on his left...

[OldMrGrace]

@BigBadBill2323 That was quite common practice during the 1st half of the 20th century. It made the orchestra sound better and better balanced.

[xnightreaperx]

@BigBadBill2323 If no-body has said it already, it's a classical style configuration, rather than the later configuration [prior to Stokowski]. It creates a better balance of sound from left to right.

[BigBadBill2323]

@xnightreaperx ... Yes, I have always wanted to play some pieces in this configuration... I feel that the composer "felt" the music physically as well as hearing it, and we now may be missing a vital component. It would have been the days' equivalent to stereo, as the themes moved from instrument to instrument!

[BoyScout464]

Sounds just as good as the same preformance at the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9, 2009, celebrating 20 years after it came down.

[wiseass2147]

Sounds pretty good for a 60 year old television recording. Can't imagine NBC airing something like this now; they'd rather show fat people being yelled at on a treadmill, lol. By the way 8-H is where they do Saturday Night Live now.

[SatchmoSings]

@wiseass2147 Hard to believe that The National Broadcasting Company had its own symphony orchestra to give regular live, on-the-air concerts and to make records, too.

Indeed, when this was broadcast, classical record sales were 30% of the record market; they're like 2% now.

[elvispresley718]

@wiseass2147 of course the culture is declining when white people become the minority in this country wagner will be forgotten

[YottaTaz]

A different, masterful approach !

Still, French Horns really cannot play that fast, can they ?

[rv14142]

(to YottaTaz)

These are Super French Hornists, my friend. The equivalent of Superman. Of French Horns.

:)

[YottaTaz]

...  :)

[arvidt1]

great classic performance!!!

i found an even faster version: type " tchivzhel lohengrin" in the search

[churchlandsmuso4life]

a great classical performance isn't measured in speed my friend

[LauraRocatello]

25 settembre 2009

SEMPRE GRANDE TOSCANINI!

Lauretta

[touchogrey]

Anyone know what movie this is featured in? I seem to recall it quite clearly being in a film or many films. Anything significant?

[Kievest]

Thrilling and sublime!!! Thank you.

[jackylen57]

Fantastique !

Que c'est agréable de revoir Toscanini

[galileo021728]

Great performance!

[vhc2k3]

So much faster than anyone else plays it, still love it though.

[gmal664664]

hi all .. I need musical analysis for this piece to my study.

Thanks

[hamishmichie]

fantastic music as is no longer made - discipline yummee

[Rome012]

you cant say fantastic music isnt made.  in this case beuty is in the EAR of the beholder. thats an obtuse statement

[cnmaster01]

@hamishmichie It is, but its a pain to look for.

[ipmoic]

So you find the sound of pages turning and obtrusive coughing sounds to be a positive thing? Not me.

In fact, a modern listener really has to wonder why Toscanini put up with 8H. Did he unwittingly think that recording posterity was less important than the actual live performances?

I've heard many stories over the years from people who were there. They said that Toscanini was mystified by the intricacies of studio recordings.

[OldMrGrace]

@ipmoic 8-H was designed for AM radio broadcasting, not recording. It sounded pretty good on if you picked it up in greater New York on wireless sets of the 1940s.

[Raginscotsman]

So epic when they play this in Help, and they just beat the shit out of the Thuggees. Such a sublime piece as well.

[ipmoic]

Actually Studio 8H is NOT in "Radio City Music Hall" but rather in Rockefeller Center. It is used today for Saturday Night Live broadcasts! Yes, there were incredible performances in 8H, but, as I've said before, the acoustics were extremely dry and caused most recordings done there to lack warmth and even the slightest bit of flattering reverberation.

[OldMrGrace]

@ipmoic Engineers addressed these issues when they altered the studio acoustics in the early 1940s.

[newsoftheworld123]

benissimo

[mrchalo19]

PERFECT

[mrchalo19]

PERFECTO

[JaviPowerMetal]

diosssss

[sukara12345]

oooooooh that mystro really have a custom of leading all the band

[wanflove]

the video may be old, but the sound quality is one of the best i have heard.

[YTM021807]

It is the famous Studio 8H

in "Radio City Music Hall", New York City.

This ample studio was set the Maestro's specifications. The trick was to out the microphone(s) in the correct position.

[rainbowrealms]

A sublime piece of music - Wagner excelled himself, here. Re The Beatles comments posted, though - I don't agree at all, it's not comparing like with like and the Lennon/McCartney partnership produced, at times, music of genius. I feel that a certain amoung of musical snobbery is going on here. I've been an orchestral player myself and I appreciate a very wide, disparate and eclectic range of music. A musical composition doesn't need to be categorised as 'classical' to prove its worth.

[KawhackitaRag]

I agree that each musician has their own slightly different style and each their own way that they fit in with the "accepted" genres and labels, which, after all, are usually just artificial constructs designed by musical snobs.

however -

Certainly, a great classical musician can be equal to a great rock musician, just in different ways. There are different performance practices and musical conceptions associated with each field, and so the strengths will be different.

[ipmoic]

Yes indeed, Studio 8H was constructed for clarity in order to broadcast the news and conversation. It was--and is--a very dead hall with almost no warmth or reverberation. People argue, rightly, that the NBC Orchestra always sounded so much better when they played in Carnegie Hall.

[YTM021807]

Remember that the Carnegie Hall was used towards the end of Maestro Toscanini's career (early 1950s). The Studio 8H was used 1937 to 1950. Therefore the Cargegie Hall recordings enjoy more advanced recording equipment. The last Toscanini NBC concert in 1954 was recorded in experimental stereo. The best 8H were awesome (For example: Ein Heldenbelen, recorded in 1941 and the Beethoven 9 symphonies recorded in 1939!!) Awesome recordings!!

[JWall416]

Yes, but then again, 8H gave extremely crisp recordings, so much so that one can hear coughing and page turning during the first piece in the original 'Victory at Sea' recording.

[loufalce]

You got THAT right-as true in 1964 as it is today.

[loufalce]

I had to sit thru the Beatles Help movie recently. This was the best song in the entire movie. 2nd best was Ode to Joy. Absolutely hate the Beatles. Over rated at best.

[Jitpring]

My condolences. It really is horrid having to endure pop-cacophony like the Beatles. It reminds me of James Bond's quote from Goldfinger:

"My dear girl, there are some things that just aren't done, such as drinking Dom Perignon '53 above the temperature of 38 degrees Fahrenheit. That's just as bad as listening to the Beatles without earmuffs."

[KawhackitaRag]

Oh James Bond, how I love to hate thee. That alcoholic chauvinistic SOB.

OK, now let's see just how many flames I can generate from this comment. The more the merrier! If you REALLY want to get back at me, don't comment! It will only make me frustrated!

P.S. love or hate Wagner, this is a stupendous performance from a fantastic orchestra and conductor. I suspect they could have played almost ANY classical piece and made it sound great - it's not just the tune itself.

[KawhackitaRag]

I think canonizing the Beatles the way people canonize saints or classical composers is somewhat ludicrous. In fact, I don't even know why relatively few classical composers should be canonized while hundreds(?) of honest ones are reduced to obscurity. I really am not for the reducing nor dumbing-down of history.

I don't the Beatles themselves would have wanted other 1960's rock bands to be compared to them. Certainly I think they were tired of touring and fame in the last few years.

[piasecznik]

@KawhackitaRag

Because the vast majority of obscure classical composers deserve obscurity. There's a lot second-rate classical music... Listen to Otto Olsson for bad choral music, or to Pacini for really boring operas, for example.

[tenorismo]

Studio 8H the same studio that Saturday Night Live uses . Beautiful  Orchestra They played so well for him.

[bmctex]

Some people may recognize it from it's use in the Beatles movie "Help".....

[AlbertoLiebe]

So beauty...

[rbf1945]

The sound is good because it was originally broadcast in FM (a relatively new broadcasting mode) and because television chose FM for its audio feed.

[claronebasse]

This sounds surprisingly good to have been recorded in 1948.

[hansegam]

lauschet andächtig dem "Opernklaus"

[lohengrinknight]

I specially like Lohengrin as it is my middle name. Toscanini was just awesome. Wagner did so much with the melody as well as the story. I invite you all to read Lohengrin. Thanks for posting this. Thanks to my father for naming me with such a great name!!!

[dichtge]

This great conductor who had to flee from the Italian fascists gives an unequalled last concert dedicated exclusively to Richard Wagner whose music was so terribly abused by the Nazis. What a message !!!

[j72050]

...gee, same deal...matchless perfection...these notes can and will never be played like this again, on this earth at least....Toscanini belongs to the ages.....

[interex956]

i love his "circular" conducting style. It looks like he hates those pick-ups at around :52! He's slapping them! Hard!!

[SgtPlmFry]

I love this!

[JohnBarnesHelper]

7772399 posted -

An excellent performance of the prelude to Act 3 by the NBC Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Arturo Toscanini.

This music was used in the introduction to the 1973 movie - "Hitler:The Last Ten Days" starring Alec Guinness as Hitler.

[APSdR]

Yes, excellent.

Was it not also used for a TV SERIES "Fall of Eagles" about the fall of the German, Russian and Austro-Hungarian monarchies at the end of the First World War. The series was broadcast in the 1970ies in the UK.

[kookiecookster]

The prelude to Act3 is the ginchiest!  Kookie.

[moseleych]

i've definately heard this before... but I can't remember where...

sounds like it may have been on Looney Tune's or something. haha.

excellent, btw.

[JohnBarnesHelper]

That's quite possible.

Wagner's music was used a lot in cartoons made in the 1950's.

I remember seeing a Bugs Bunny cartoon, where Bugs is launched into space to the sound of Siegfried's Rhine Journey !

[roadwarr]

This music actually accompanied a Woody Woodpecker cartoon in which Woody became incredibly powerful.

Sadly, Saturday morning cartoons were an introduction to classical music for many of us back then, as the public school systems reduced their budgets, cutting out what they believed to be "nonessential". In the long run, what a tragedy.

[mimi2957]

I got the idea to look up songs we did in high school orchestra and choir, which is how I got here.

I have to disagree about it being sad about cartoons being an intro to classical music. At least it's exposure!

[jba1234567890]

Does anyone know where i can find the Horn part to this? Prefferably free.

[Trombonauta]

El final recuerda al de La Torre del Oro de Gimenez.

[rorusso]

Magnific!

[kaixin90]

amazing..

[Mase992]

Bwahaha! I've been searcing for this piece for a while now and I think it's such a wonderful and powerful compostion. Thanks for the video, audio quality is excellent.

[keancharles]

A master in every sense of the word. His passion, his drive for perfection comes through in even the less than perfect recording technology of the period.

Molto grazie

[adamwas]

Simply amazing

[billyguns2]

Absolutely superb inner rhythmic pulse! Magnificent forward motion! Sheer excitement!

[paulostroff99]

Almost as good as his NYPO version-also available on You Tube!They were arguably the two best recorded performances of this music.

[paulostroff99]

The best recorded performance of this work-ever!Glorious beyond decription.Bravo!

[flyboyII]

That's one of the best songs to listen to while flying. The bass and trombone sections were fantastic!

[7772399]

An excellent performance of the prelude to Act 3 by the NBC Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Arturo Toscanini.

This music was used in the introduction to the 1973 movie - "Hitler:The Last Ten Days" starring Alec Guinness as Hitler.

[ThaSchwab]

For an orchestra that small to play that good....pretty cool.

[j72050]

..well, Toscanini renders unto Wagner what is Wagner's

[oldenindawa]

Excellent. Good sound quality...great music.

[jinnypink]

wow!!!!!!!! very good

[mahlerianvidz]

The quality of the recording is surprisingly good, enjoyed it.

[musique55]

wow..so much energy