Customer Rating : 
List Price : $29.98 Price : $18.54
List Price : $29.98 Price : $18.54
Ludwig van Beethoven: The 9 Symphonies - Arturo Toscanini / NBC Symphony Orchestra Reviews
Ludwig van Beethoven: The 9 Symphonies - Arturo Toscanini / NBC Symphony Orchestra Reviews
| 142 of 146 people found the following review helpful  Fidelity and Power, By This review is from: Ludwig van Beethoven: The 9 Symphonies - Arturo Toscanini / NBC Symphony Orchestra (Audio CD) RCA/BMG have reissued these recordings numerous times since their initial LP release. To the best of my knowledge, they've never been out of print. The sound on various incarnations has varied, from the clean but compressed mono originals, fake stereo reissues in the 1960s, to at least four CD issues. In 1997, RCA totally reorganized and inventoried its massive vaults, which had been in disarray for decades. As a result, many original sources which had been declared "lost" were now "found." This new remastering is strikingly improved sonically over all earlier issues. Utilizing the best technology now available, RCA has also done the right thing by hiring a musician - conductor Ed Houser - rather than whiz-bang technicians to supervise the remastering. The NBC Symphony Orchestra now sounds better than ever before, with smoother strings, fuller winds, increased dynamic range, and less blotting out during fortissimos.Perhaps no conductor of the 20th Century has been as... Read more 179 of 193 people found the following review helpful THE Maestro's Beethoven, By This review is from: Ludwig van Beethoven: The 9 Symphonies - Arturo Toscanini / NBC Symphony Orchestra (Audio CD) The controversey about Toscanini just will not go away, nor is it likely to abate anytime soon. Contemporary music critics ran out of superlatives in their reviews of Toscanini's performances, and found his style so convincing and powerful they soon referred to him as THE Maestro, as if there were no others. Indeed, Toscanini had few peers during his long, outstanding career. This is somewhat harder to discern for modern listeners, who have been brought up listening to two generations of conductors who have mostly all been heavily influenced by Toscanini and the revolution in interpretation and performance he wrought.Two myths about Toscaninini persist: the first, by his supporters, that he was a literally faithful interpreter; the second, by his critics, that he conducted everything too fast. Neither of these myths is exactly true, but there is little point in refuting them in detail here. The current take on Toscanini is that his recorded legacy does not support... Read more 59 of 61 people found the following review helpful Can I give it nine stars?, By This review is from: Ludwig van Beethoven: The 9 Symphonies - Arturo Toscanini / NBC Symphony Orchestra (Audio CD) I grew up on these performances, and it's difficult for me to hear other attempts without the cold wind of criticism blowing. Nevertheless, as an adult, I've listened to them again and again in the context of other recordings and have come to something more reasonable than pure adulation. First, the sound is definitely not as good as even the most ordinary recordings of today. That's a technical matter solely. If, and it's a mighty big if, you are capable of listening beyond the sound to the music, then there simply aren't other Beethoven symphony performances that are in the same league as these. The NBC Symphony Orchestra was the most astonishing virtuoso orchestra ever assembled. If you doubt that at all, just listen to them release a sound. Many orchestras these days (though not then) can make a unified attack, but a unified release is something you just don't hear. Balances are a constant miracle as the music progresses. Toscanini was NOT a slave to the score (compare... Read more |
› See all 40 customer reviews...
No comments:
Post a Comment