Richard Wagner - Ride of the Valkyries (NBC Symphony / Toscanini - 1951 Telecast)

Another little taster of late Toscanini, and another firecracker.
If these go down well, I might work on the whole concert series.
The Testament release leaves a lot to be desired.

[@hilanocarvalho3945]

Amazing ! Great conduction. That's the birth of Heavy Music ! 🤘

[@MusicismoreImportant]

Vivaldi, Paganini, Beethoven, Hector berlioz, Liszt too

[@WilliamSilva-ml5nw]

Toscanini and the entire orchestra are into the "Ride"!!!

[@akashbenzamin2726]

💙wow

[@sireceh]

Such attention to details. Delightful!

[@SunJigglet]

Awesome!!

[@allenrpn]

Superb !!!!

[@giovannivercesi6503]

Maestrissimo

[@arthurkrieck1]

Splendid! Cleaer image than ever, and better sound. Please, more!

[@stephenlang3135]

Such passion, just look at the sweat pouring of him.

[@ilirllukaci5345]

Thanks.

[@MusicismoreImportant]

🇩🇪🇮🇹

[@schaerffenberg]

Ride of the German Luftwaffe!

[@eugenvonbismarck5029]

Look, that’s a conductor conducting a world class orchestra. Look what we have now! Shit conductors conducting BPO, not even a quarter the quality of any conductors from this generation.

[@glagolitic]

I'll definitely agree that the conductors and orchestras of yesteryear were something incredibly special but I cannot subscribe to your crude dismissal of contemporary musicians. I'm grateful for the diversity of historical recordings made for posterity, but I'm also grateful for today's performers who keep these wonderful works of art alive in the concert hall. There are bad conductors around now just as there was then. We're lucky we live in an era of musical plenty, where we can hear anything played by anyone at the touch of a button - whether it's Toscanini and the NBCSO, or Bill Bogbrush and the Falkland Islands Municipal Orchestra... it's there to enrich our lives. Many contemporary performances and recordings are excellent and many conductors of today have much to give. Not everyone's great, but not everyone's awful either.

[@mv7251]

⁠@@glagolitic @eugenvonbismarck5029 was probably exaggerating a bit as I imagine he was TOTALLY overcome with emotion after hearing Toscanini conduct one of the extremely powerful works. I’m not a conductor, nor do I really know much about it, but I am a classical pianist which is ONLY to say that I have a better understanding…no, a better FEELING of conducting than if I wasn’t exposed to music on that level. While I do agree with you, I certainly understand where he is coming from. This is Toscanini!!! Now I understand this might be controversial, but he just listened to not just the greatest conductor, but one of the freak figures in music history. I liken him to Heifetz in that there is Yasha and then everyone else. Objectively speaking, I say these things because usually there are great conductors of symphony, and great conductors of opera. For some reason, Tulio Serafin, one of the great opera conductors doesn’t conduct symphony anywhere close to the same level. Toscanini is a titan in ALL genres. Trying to stick with objective points, another thing is how there are many works of his where he accentuates certain parts of the orchestra to such a degree that the piece sounds totally different. My Russian friend, son of a second chair cellist (Moscow Symphony Orchestra) came over while I was playing the final movement of Toscanini/Horowitz Tchaikovsky 1, live from Carnegie Hall 1943. When the piece was finished he asked me what that was. His point was that of the many different versions he heard in his life, he never heard it played like that. Now I don’t know if this Wagner selection falls into that category for truth be told, I know Italian opera far better than German. But I could site numerous Italian opera selections as well as symphonic works that fall into that category. But even still, subjectivity speaking, as great as I think Toscanini is….and how much better I think he is in most (but not all!!!) of his enormous repertoire, I still could never say that he makes today’s conductors/symphonies look like crap. For whatever reason, the percentage of uninspiring conductors today might be higher than 100 yrs ago but as you said, there are great ones in every age. And on that subject, let’s remember that Toscanini had one SUPREME advantage to conductors of today…..he not only knew but was FRIENDLY with many of these composers!!!!! On that note and to wrap it all up, Toscanini and Puccini were very good friends. Something happened and they were estranged for 20 odd years. It was an anniversary performance of Manon Lescault…can’t remember if it was 25th but Toscanini chose to conduct the performance. Puccini was of course in attendance. When the opera was over, Puccini approached Arturo with tears streaming down his cheeks and said something like, my god maestro, I’ve NEVER heard this piece performed like that!!!! When I was writing this opera as a young man, I never could have imagined that my “Little Manon” could sound like that. The special human being that Toscanini was replied, “Comenditore, if you only didn’t attend so many inferior performances, you wouldn’t be so taken with an average one.” I just think that is a lovely story and demonstrates the character of both men. But if you are familiar with the Intermezzo in Lescault, listen to Toscanini’s rendition…there will be a couple of passages where you hear instruments that you’ve never heard before. And one thing he always does is accent the timpani, especially when it represents the up beat. Apologies for the verbosity, but I can’t help but get carried away when writing about someone like Toscanini. He was truly one of the musical savants.

[@maggiedeveney]

Than you for your insight!

[@alexandergalica9383]

CAR'S