Arturo Toscanini conducts Mozart Symphony No. 40 in G Minor K.550 (Recorded 1938-39) Movements 1 and 2

Toscanini conducts the NBC Symphony Orchestra. Originally issued by RCA Victor as album M-631, this is the most dramatic reading of the G Minor symphony that you are likely to hear. Panned by many critics as too driving and intense, I find it a refreshing approach to more "traditional" performances of the work.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Toscanini
• Mozart
• NBC
• Symphony
• Orchestra

[gerrus89]

It's not from The television concerts 1948-52?

[eblackadder3]

No, recorded in 1938 and 1939 in NBC studio 8-H.

[runupahill1]

Growing up listening to Reiner, Leinsdorf, Ormandy, Bernstein,etc., I kept wondering what am I missing. I concluded that classical music was supposed to be boring; that's the way people wanted it. Only in old age have I come to hear Toscanini's recordings. Listening to him conduct is like seeing a Van Gogh painting for the first time, after nothing but reproductions. Everything comes into focus. You suddenly know why the horns in one section are muted, preparing for the strings 9 bars later.

[toscaninizt]

indeed an exceptional recording. Somehow to me Toscanini was hardly the Mozart man, but in this recording the Toscaninian sound melded with Mozart really yields a wonderful effect. Unseen in the later rather orthodox interpretations.

Thank You!

[marian444]

Wonderful!!!

[RedCloudBeechWaveAhh]

space and time limitations finish this! I know there is much to debate and to clear up, and am all-too-aware of the problems of what I have just written. But I do ask that we try to get (back) in touch with the impulse of beauty, of love of form, communication of what is deepest and most personal... get in touch with them, share them, live under their spell...

[RedCloudBeechWaveAhh]

different from what they had originally written. This kind of thing - making generalities about art and creativity and performance - is obviously inexact and subjective, but I do want to advocate for the performer who errs on the side of conviction, feeling, sense of beauty. And to remind all of us that art is not about accuracy and scholarship. It is about life, love, beauty, form, elegance, feeling, wonder.... Historians, pedagogues, accountants, scientists are more about rules, accuracy etc.

[RedCloudBeechWaveAhh]

Artists, whether painters or composers, are dealing with Beauty, Form and Feeling. Not as if set in stone, but it seems to be something like that, in general.

If there is an interpreter who brings forth a performance of his or her work, and it of filled with beauty, or deep feeling, or an amazing sense of overall design, I think that that creator will feel, at least to some extent, happy or satisfied, even if a dynamic or phrase was different than he (ok, I will follow the new norm "they")

[RedCloudBeechWaveAhh]

There is truth to some comments' taking issue with tempi, romanticism, etc.

The idea of being "true to a composer" is problematic at best. This recording is great, and its value, as with other work by Toscanini, lies in its power, humanity, intensity, clarity, beauty, artistry... These words and ideas are all of course, mostly not concrete or descriptive in some objective way, but I think there is a sense of aliveness and sharpness, of sheer beauty, that overwhelms any perceived "flaws"

[bevaconme]

there are no muted horns in mozart, not in this symphony anyway, and this recording is not of a live performance but made in the studio (8-h, of course) in 1938.

[SatchmoSings]

@GermanOperaSinger While this recording does have a lot of "romantic" overtones, there is also a lot of the "classical" element that Toscanini brings out which is why this recording is so good.

He eschews the strings playing thick and heavy vibrato; the string's musicality is all done by bowing and attack which is a correct performance practice. Toscanini largely (but not entirely) gets the basic rhythm correct and timing of the piece, right, too.

[GermanOperaSinger]

Anything but generic. Doesn't really remain true to the composer, but Toscanini's interpretations always remained true to himself! Love it.

[HeartGoldMVP]

perfect