Ah yes, I believe the time has come for (long drumroll) (ominous voice) Daaaay Fifteeeeeeen.
I started by listening to one of the greatest of all romantic symphonies and continued with two opera excerpts. Both opera extracts had been recorded by Toscanini during his tenure with the New York Philharmonic, but this is the first complete Brahms symphony to see an official release.
Brahms: Symphony No. 1 - March 10th and December 11th, 1941
I have made no secret about the fact I don't care for the standard, "weighty" manner of playing Brahms. The music he writes has great weight and depth, but the lines have nowhere to flow when they are performed with turgid heaviness - playing like this causes his grand, monumental structures to fall apart. It is absolutely true that certain rare conductors of genius can make a good case for the heavy sonorities that are typical of Brahms performances, but as much as I enjoy the finest work of Otto Klemperer and Wilhelm Furtwängler I believe the true sound of these sublime works are in the energetic, flowing readings that are the hallmarks of conductors like Claudio Abbado, Stanisław Skrowaczewski, and Arturo Toscanini.
This stunning 1941 recording of Brahms 1 is not Toscanini's finest performance of the symphony, but it is a reading of the highest level. Brahms's First Symphony was a work Toscanini really understood, and every performance he gave of it was a thing of beauty. His Brahms 1 immediately knocks you over with a searing intensity and a tempo that is somewhat faster than traditional. Yet his performance never becomes rigid or unyielding, nor are his sonorities any less powerful for his faster tempos.
Recordings like this are proof of just how powerful Brahms can be when played with driven, exciting energy. There are certainly beauties of a very different kind to be found in the finest performances of the "heavy" Brahms, but an entirely new and more profound sound comes from these masterpieces when they are played with ecstatic, crackling life. Toscanini understood this brilliantly and performed the Brahms symphonies, especially the first, with great meaning and intelligence.
Verdi: Preludes to Act I and III from La traviata - March 10th, 1941
This is a beautiful performance with lovely cantabile lines from the strings, but ultimately it is not in the same class as the earlier recording with the New York Philharmonic. This performance is more earthbound and much less operatic. Violetta's suffering seems to be commuted to a truncated discomfort, and the overall power of this reading suffers from the desensitized playing. While this recording is certainly far from a failure, it does not belong in the class of Toscanini's finest work.
Wagner: Prelude to Lohengrin - March 17th and May 6th, 1941
Like the 1941 La traviata preludes this Lohengrin recording suffers from an unflattering comparison to an earlier and much more beautiful reading Toscanini gave with the New York Philharmonic. This later performance is almost a minute shorter than the Philharmonic recording and is much more earthy in character. It fails to elicit the "magical, supernatural feelings" or the "celestial harmonies" that so inspired Toscanini when he first heard this music as a boy. Toscanini's finest recordings oftentimes have brisk tempos, but they are never rigid or unyielding. This performance is both.
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That's it for Day 15! Tomorrow features a bit of everything: a bit of piano, a bit more Wagner, a bit bit more Wagner, and even a little polka. If you listen closely enough you might even be able to hear the lederhosen. I'm told Siegfried was buried in them.
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