22 February 2019

RT 031 Beethoven 5 (1939) BBCSO Toscanini




GEMINIANI
Concerto Grosso in g minor, op. 3 n. 2 (*)

BEETHOVEN
Symphony no. 5 in c minor, op. 67 (**)

BBC Symphony Orchestra
ARTURO TOSCANINI


Live - London, Queen's Hall
June 12, 1935 (*) - May 12, 1939 (**)


bonus

BEETHOVEN
Symphony no. 5 in c minor, op. 67

Grosses Odeon Streich Orchester Berlin
Friedrich Kark (?)
Odeon Records, 1910 or 1911



All in all it was not my intention to resume immediately the "Rare Toscanini",
but also considering the kind request by Louis
I've planned three additional volumes to conclude our BBCSO & Salzburg Festival survey.

So here you can find the Fifth performed in London on may 12, 1939.
Certainly one of his most beautiful and compelling, if not the best I know.
The audience seems to agree, judging from the final ovation.

According to the most complete and accurate Toscanini discographies another recording of this work by the same artists survives (Queen's Hall - may 23, 1938); unfortunately not (yet) in my possession.

The "program" was a bit short, so I decided to add a curiosity in appendix.
Many believe that the first recording of the Fifth is the famous version by Nikisch (1913).

This one was realized in 1910 or 1911.
The "Grosses Odeon Streich Orchester Berlin" is actually a Symphony Orchestra.
The conductor is uncredited: in the opinion of some Friedrich Kark (1869-1939), according to others Eduard Künneke (1895-1953)...
but he was a bit too young at the time.



Volume 32 will be a surprise for many of you ... At least I hope so.


Flac
(see comments)




8 comments:

Guido said...

https://mega.nz/#!6TZFBKBI!D-odP7DHquW1fT7NS7gqLcF5-3v9_j-rZdMnf3ZqmDU

Anonymous said...

Glad to see you back in the saddle again!

I am confused by your remarks. I take it that what you identify in your post as the BBC Fifth is NOT the BBC Fifth, right? So, why label it as such? I just needed a bit of clarification. I don't mean to be too fussy; but since I already have the Geminiani and the 1910 Fifth, I was trying to figure out if I wanted this upload.

Thanks very much, and all my enouragement!
8H Haggis, retired audio engineer

Guido said...

Sorry about the confusion, generated by an answer given to Louis in a previous post.

Anyway, the Fifth posted here is the authentic BBC SO 1939, I'm pretty sure.


I thought I had both 1938 & 1939,
but the other recording in my possession is a fake may 23, 1938 (I will not post that version).
Somewhere a recording of the BBCSO may 23, 1938 is preserved: I hope to "catch" it, before or after.

Louis said...

Dear Guido,

A huge thanks for sharing this. I am listening to it now and very much enjoying it. I am not an expert and it is dangerous to make generalisations, but Toscanini's performances with the New York PO and BBC SO sometimes have a degree more flexibility than his performances of the same repertoire with the NBC SO. Christopher Dyment's book 'Toscanini in Britain' discusses his BBC SO performances in some detail. Both Dyment and the British music critic Rob Cowan praise Toscanini and the BBC SO's performance of Mozart's Jupiter Symphony on 3 June 1938, especially in comparison to his NBC SO performances.

Best,
Louis

aquila said...

Dear Guido I hope that the Geminiani is the same I have from the original reseller on ebay instead of the bad transfer by a discographic which got the same discs with a trick and used bad restoration approach...

Addison said...

With many thanks for sharing these, that otherwise I doubt that I'd ever be able to hear.

Jerry

Guido said...

Hi Louis, thanks for your kind message
and yes, I totally agree.
In fact a few NBC in the series until now :)
apart from rehearsals.
The really interesting thing is that usually his concerts
even in old age were generally better with different orchestras (La Scala, the fantastic Brahms-Philharmonia cycle).

Unknown said...

How do you do.

I'm a Japanese and very interested in that Odeon recordings.
Is this mean you have that record!?