Verdi Aida Ouverture - Toscanini NBC - 1940

[carlolamberti1]

una vera rarità ci ricorda una quasi leggendaria versione della sinfonia dell'aida, mai eseguita fino ad allora, ma, gelosamente conservata a busseto dagli eredi della famiglia verdi e, gentilmente prestata a toscanini in segno di stima profonda...

carlo lamberti

[goodmanmusica]

@carlolamberti1

si l'unico a riproporla ufficialmente in tempi moderni è stato Chailly, basandosi proprio sul materiale usato da Toscanini

[LaArsinoeIV]

@goodmanmusica Claudio Abbado ha inciso questa sinfonia ben due volte, con la London Symphony Orchestra e anche con la Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala.

[OperaMystery80]

This was the one and only time anyone ever heard the original overture to Aida. Verdi composed this with various themes/melodies from the opera a la Wagner motif style (which Aida has a lot of) but hated the results saying it was "pretentious & insipid". Verdi disliked the Cairo world premiere due it's elitist audience (1871 VIP's only!!) lol A people's composer, he introduced Aida to the entire public in Italy which he saw as the REAL premiere.

[clarionstreet]

This overture was never published, corrected, or even finished by the composer. After hearing an orchestral rehearsal, Verdi decided it did not work as well as the more familiar prelude. Of course not; the prelude is perfection. I think Toscanini prepared his performance from an incomplete manuscript copy. While not Verdi's answer to Meistersinger, the overture deserves to be heard in the concert hall in its original form. Wonderful performance in any case.

[clarionstreet]

This overture was never published, corrected, or even finished by the composer. After hearing an orchestral rehearsal, Verdi decided it did not work as well as the more familiar prelude. Of course not; the prelude is perfection. While not Verdi's Meistersinger, it deserves to be heard. I think Toscanini prepared his performance from an incomplete manuscript copy. Does anyone know if this is the same performance as one issued on Melodram label in 1989? This one sounds tauter and brighter overall.

[just1967me]

This is absolutely amazing! I LOVE it! I have known this opera for most of my life, and just NOW I'm hearing this. Too bad it is not better known. I have to listen over and over again!

[aggelosf1]

absolutely marvelous!!

[SteveAndrewLangford]

@aggelosf1 Agreed.