When I embarked on this project I guess I was in a bit of denial that there would be some days where it would be very difficult to write well-thought and detailed entries. Today was just such a day, as I completed a whirlwind trip to Portland, Oregon that left little time for contemplative rumination and computer work. While away I did spend some time at Powell's, which is the most extraordinary bookstore I have ever been to, and is according to some sources the largest such store in the world. While there I picked up a biography of Toscanini by a writer named Tobia Nicotra that was published in 1929, eight years before the conductor joined NBC. I will be very interested to spend some time reading this, to have an idea of how the world saw Toscanini before the radio made him a truly international celebrity.
I also had time to wait in line for doughnuts at a famous Portland establishment called VooDoo Doughnuts, which has been featured on the Food Network and has pastries with names like Old Dirty Bastard, Maple Blazer Blunt, Gay Bar, and, of course, Triple Chocolate Penetration. Notice I say I had time to "wait in line" at VooDoo Doughnuts, not to actually obtain a doughnut. It turns out that the wait time to actually purchase items from this shop on the weekend requires you to budget approximately the same amount of time you would spend to reroof your house with one hand. So I was able to get some fun pictures from VooDoo Doughnuts, but nothing else during this trip.
I ALSO, if you can believe this, had a bit of time to listen to some Toscanini in the car. Here are some quick thoughts from these car-noise-addled listenings:
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 - October 29th, 1944
The soloist for this performance was Arthur Rubinstein, who delivered a beautifully nuanced performance of this concerto that was sensitively accompanied by Toscanini. Rubinstein left some interesting recollections of the rehearsals for this performance, which provide a revealing take on Toscanini's role as accompanist. The two were apparently musically at odds in preparing this concerto. Many of the details were not in in sync, and the run-throughs had been unsatisfactory. After all this, Toscanini turned to the soloist to ask if he would "kindly repeat the first movement." Rubinstein reluctantly agreed, and according to him "A miracle happened...The tempo was right this time and the tutti sounded with all the nuances required. Toscanini did not miss one tiny detail. He was right there, and we finished every phrase beautifully together. He respected all my dynamics, held up the orchestra where I made the tiniest rubato, with a flourish."
All of this is audible in the performance. It lacks the super-charged energy level of the recording Toscanini made of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto with Vladimir Horowitz the previous year, but it is perhaps the most lovingly detailed and musically refined performance Toscanini ever gave of a concerto. The heavenly slow movement is played with an especially beautiful, loving flexibility. Toscanini was oftentimes not at ease when working with strong-willed soloists, but the right situation could yield spectacular results, as in the case of this beautiful performance.
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That's it for Day 25!
Today was supposed to be the second of three days devoted to Toscanini's seventh season with NBC. But I've just discovered that, due to a dating error in my chronology, I accidentally jumped ahead to Season Eight with this Beethoven concerto, which I had mistakenly believed to have been recorded six months earlier. I hope you're not too offended (I've been crying and gnashing my teeth most of the day in penitence). Tomorrow I'll return to the correct chronology with some Verdi and Puccini.
See you tomorrow!
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