Today I listened to most of the recordings that were made during Toscanini's fifth season with NBC, but during that year he was not officially working for the network. He had left in a huff following the previous season when he discovered that NBC had been deceiving him about how the musicians of his orchestra were being used - not, as it turned out, for his exclusive use. Leopold Stokowski was appointed to succeed him, and Toscanini left to make some masterful recordings with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and also led some concerts with his previous orchestra, the New York Philharmonic. He was not, however, to be away from NBC for much longer.
In December of 1941 the Department of the Treasury asked Toscanini to conduct the NBC Symphony again to promote the sale of war bonds. The virulently anti-fascist conductor could not refuse this offer. After leading two initial broadcasts, Toscanini returned three more times between January and April of 1942 to lead war bond concerts, and these paved the way for his eventual return to the network. NBC was finding Stokowski every bit as hard to handle as Toscanini had been, and they were soon to make diplomatic overtures (through Toscanini's son, Walter) to have the NBC Symphony Orchestra reunited with its Maestro.
The recordings from this season are very uneven in quality, and include some of his weakest studio efforts. Orchestra and conductor were in the process of reacquainting themselves during this season, and the musical quality suffered somewhat as result. Nonetheless, this season paved the way for Toscanini's truly long-term connection with the NBC Symphony, and for the vast quantities of truly remarkable recordings that were to made during the final years of the conductor's life.
Strauss: On the Beautiful Blue Danube - December 11th, 1941 and March 19th, 1942
Good lord, this is awful…just awful. This may in fact bet the worst recording in all of Toscanini's official discography. What's so appalling about this performance is the complete and utter lack of the Viennese gemütlichkeit that is absolutely inherent to any fine or even respectable performance of this music. The overall stiffness of execution is mind-boggling, although to be fair the players of the NBC Symphony seem to be making at least a token effort to make this reading idiomatic. This is one recording whose utter failure can be completely attributed to Toscanini.
Verdi: Overture to I vespri siciliani - January 24th, 1942
Toscanini always performed Verdi with great authority, and this recording is no exception. It is occasionally a bit overly contained in character, and the boxy recorded sound leaves the music little room to bloom. Toscanini still manages to drive this overture to a rousing climax, and this ends up as one of the more satisfying recordings of his truncated fifth season at NBC.
Thomas: Overture to Mignon - March 19th, 1942
That Toscanini could make such lightweight music sound like this shows just how seriously he took everything he performed. The carefully-shaped introduction in particular is played with great beauty and dignity, featuring some of best horn playing I have yet heard from NBC. Oddly, Toscanini released a second official recording of this piece ten years later, when it only saw two live performances during his NBC years. Many staples of Toscanini's repertoire were recorded only once, like the Die Meistersinger prelude or Beethoven's Ninth, which probably says something about the randomness of RCA's interests.
Barber: Adagio for Strings - March 19th, 1942
This beautiful recording is the pick of an oftentimes disappointing pack from today's listening. Toscanini gave the world premiere of this music in 1938 and consistently performed it with deeply felt sensitivity, although he sadly did not return to it after this recording was made. Barber does not seem to have originally intended for this piece to have the tragic connotations it now has, and Toscanini performs it more as a gentle song than as an anguished statement of profound importance. The Adagio for Strings does work beautifully in Toscanini's conception, and can almost be heard as a moving operatic interlude.
Smith: The Star-Spangled Banner - March 19th, 1942
There's no question that the United States possesses one of the most stirring national anthems in the world, and Toscanini performs it with great dignity and the patriotic fervor of one whose native country was still subjugated by tyranny. But I still can't hear The Star-Spangled Banner without thinking of Poltergeist, so I can't help but be a bit scared by it.
Wagner: Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde - March 19th, 1942
This is sadly almost as bad as the Blue Danube, but Strauss waltzes were hardly staples of Toscanini's repertory, and it is all the more depressing that he would perform one of his favorite works in this stiff, lifeless manner. As we saw in Day 15, Toscanini's 1901 production of Tristan at La Scala was attended by Wagner son, Siegfried, who was so impressed by what he saw that his mother, Cosima, was compelled to send Toscanini a letter in which she effusively thanked him for taking such care with this masterpiece on a foreign stage. This was obviously music Toscanini understood profoundly, and performed frequently. So why did this 1942 recording of the Liebestod sound like it did? It is possible that Toscanini was distracted by World War II and what was happening to his homeland, but I think it has more to do with the fact that in 1942 he was no longer feeling that the NBC Symphony was "his" orchestra. The recordings from this year are generally very tight-sounding, and Toscanini's more relaxed performances tended to come with orchestras he felt a great affinity with. As it turned out he was to stay with NBC for a long while after this, giving him the opportunity to leave many, many great treasures for posterity.
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In July of 1942 Toscanini was to conduct one of the most important concerts given in the United States during World War II. This concert landed him on the cover of Time Magazine and made him an international symbol of freedom. But that's tomorrow's story.
See you then!
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