Toscanini conducts Aragonesa from Carmen with La Scala orchestra

[@MrGer2295]

Arturo Toscanini (born 25 March 1867; died 16 January 1957) was an Italian conductor. Most musicians think he was the greatest conductor of his time. His fame was legendary: he was probably the first conductor to become a world superstar. He had an incredibly good memory and could remember every single note of the large number of works he conducted. Impressionante!!! Thank you for sharing this video.

[@MrGer2295]

He had a photographic memory so that he could remember what the pages looked like. Sometimes he found little mistakes in the scores which no one else had ever noticed. He had a very keen sense of hearing and knew exactly what each instrument was doing. He also had a fiery temperament and there are films of him shouting angrily at his orchestra in rehearsals. In the early days of gramophone recordings he made some of the first recordings of famous orchestral works. Impressionante!!! Thank you.

[@VinylToVideo]

I agree; excellent. I have a full recording of "Butterfly" made in 1924 and the full orchestra is barely audible. Perhaps they were stuffed into a tiny studio here rather than a large hall.

[@valdengo1]

..IN 1920, when Toscanini was about 53...this must have seemed like the ultimate in music reproduction.....as if this was the highest point of music reproduction....the beefed up tubas, the big horn, etc....