The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: What are the best recordings by Arturo Toscanini and why did critics turn against him?
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By Jacob Stockinger
This past weekend, The Ear posted a story about the massive new biography of the legendary Italian maestro Arturo Toscanini (below).
In case you missed it, here is a link that will also take you to the terrific book review by Robert Gottlieb of the fascinating new biography by Harvey Sachs that appeared in The New York Times:
Turns out that The New Yorker magazine also featured two stories that relate to the new biography, which appears on the 150th anniversary of Toscanini’s birth.
The first story by David Denby focuses on the best recordings by Toscanini. They include the new and impressively re-mastered ones, and most can be found for FREE listening on YouTube.
Here is a link to that critique of the great Toscanini recordings that proved so influential in the history of classical music in the modern era.
It includes what famed Metropolitan Opera conductor James Levine considers the most perfect orchestral recording ever made — which you can hear in the YouTube video at the bottom (be sure to read the comments):
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/toscaninis-greatest-recorded-performances
And here is a follow-up story by Denby about why critics turned against the famous and revered Italian conductor:
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/07/10/the-toscanini-wars
Tags: Arts, Beethoven, biography, Cello, choral music, Classical music, Compact Disc, critic, David Denby, Harvey Sachs, Jacob Stockinger, James Levine, Johannes Brahms, Ludwig van Beethoven, Met, Metropolitan Opera, Mozart, Music, New York City, New York Times, New Yorker, opera, Orchestra, perfect, recording, symphony, The New York Times, Toscanini, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Verdi, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Classical music: New biography explains the professional importance and personal quirks of famed maestro Arturo Toscanini
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By Jacob Stockinger
You know how sometimes a movie preview or trailer gives so much away of the story that it leaves you feeling you don’t really need to see the movie.
That’s how The Ear felt when he read a recent review in The New York Times of a new and exhaustive biography by Harvey Sachs of the famous conductor Arturo Toscanini (below).
Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini (1867 – 1957) conducts the NBC Symphony Orchestra in a televised recording of Verdi‘s ‘Hymn of the Nations‘, 1944. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
This is the second time that Sachs has written about the maestro. This time, however, he had access to recently released private papers.
And boy, are there some surprises.
In his lengthy review, Robert Gottlieb gives The Ear just about all he wants to know or needs to know about the Italian master from his youth (below, ca. 1890) to old age — and then some. (In the YouTube video at the bottom you can hear and see Toscanini conducting “The Ride of the Valkyries” by Richard Wagner in 1948.)
The Ear knew Toscanini was important. But he was never really quite sure why.
Now he knows.
Here is a link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/27/books/review/toscanini-biography-harvey-sachs.html
Read the review and see if you agree.
And tell us what you make of Toscanini the musician and Toscanini the man.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: Arts, Arturo Toscanini, Beethoven, biography, Book, Cello, Chamber music, choral music, Classical music, Compact Disc, critic, Franz Schubert, Getty Images, Harvey Sachs, hear, Italian, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Johannes Brahms, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, man, movie, Mozart, Music, Musician, NBC, New York Times, opera, Orchestra, personal, preview, professional, quirk, review, Ride of the Valkyries, see, story, symphony, The New York Times, Toscanini, trailer, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Verdi, video, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
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