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Pristine News: Friday 15th January, 2010
New
to Pristine Classical? Get Started Here:
A Beginner's Guide to Downloading - Five ways to find recordings at Pristine Classical - Full printable Pristine Audio catalogue New release today: VERDI Requiem etc. Pristine Audio PACO 038 New
source material courtesy of Luciano Crivello Total
duration: 100.01
Plus Aida Overture première and an unreleased overture by Castelnuovo-Tedesco
"Toscanini may have been the most commanding expondent of his time of the Requiem" writes Mortimore H. Frank, noting his 29 performances of the work, beginning in 1902 with a concert marking the first anniversary of Verdi's death. This 1940 concert recording is certainly a classic - and with a newly-discovered source can now be heard in better sound quality than ever before in this new Pristine XR remastering. It's coupled with two short recordings from the same year
- Toscanini's world première of Verdi's discarded overture to his opera
Aida, as well as a previously unissued overture by the Italian
Castelnuovo-Tedesco, both in absolutely superb sound quality.
Notes
on the recordings: The
discovery of a new source copy of Toscanini's 1940 Verdi Requiem will be of great interest to
collectors. The tape appears to be a straight dub of 16-inch acetate
discs, with no editing between sides which (just) overlap sufficiently
to create a seamless recording. Italian collector Luciano Crivello
acquired the tapes recently and, in addition to making them available
to online Toscanini groups in a straight copy transfer, offered them to
Pristine Audio for editing and restoration, commenting: "...of this
Requiem several were the issues (Arturo toscanini Society, Music and
Arts and many others, I have one also with commentaries and the Deum,
but the sound is not so good). The material is really very rare and
certainly has never been used even by private labels. This material has
never been put in Commerce. It seems to me that the previous releases
for sale do not have this sound so good, although some were of
excellent quality. But there are some points of this record that sound
so natural and strong, as I had never heard before." The
sound quality was indeed remarkably good, if at times a little strident
and prone to overload distortion during some louder passages. The
treble is reasonably extended and it's been possible to remove some
background noise as well as to extend and reinforce the bass. Various
minor faults and flaws in the recording have been tackled, including
occasional pitch instability and small disc surface defects. The
other two recordings included here both date from earlier in 1940 and
have been preserved in remarkably good sound quality - both are cleaner
and have considerably higher treble response than the Requiem. Whilst it is well known that
Toscanini premièred Verdi's discarded overture to Aida at the 1940 concert of March
30th, it has been impossible at the time of writing to find out much
about the Castelnuovo-Tedesco overture. The
composer had been supporting of Toscanini in Italy when the conductor
was under scrutiny by Mussolini, and eventually was forced to flee to
the United States, where Toscanini sponsored his relocation in 1939.
The overture was played twice in concerts given by Toscanini and the
NBC Symphony Orchestra (the second performance, on 3rd March 1944, is
also available on CD), and in 1945 Toscanini also gave a single
performance of the Castelnuovo-Tedesco's overture A
Fairy Tale. I have failed to locate any other recording of the
present Taming
of the Shrew Overture, nor any further information about the work. As
such it is impossible to state whether this is the overture's world
première, its broadcast première, its US première, or indeed, all three
- or of course none of the above. Should this or any other pertinent
information become available I will of course update this page. Alas my
recording of the work contained too little rapidly-faded applause to
include here - suffice to say, therefore, that the audience response
was certainly positive, and not the silence implied by the present
transfer. Technical
notes by Andrew Rose
Pristine highlights - this week from 2005: Krauss's classic 1950 Fledermaus Pristine Audio PACO 001
Krauss's classic 1950 Decca Fledermaus Superb
transfer from Peter Harrison Julius
Patzak - Gabriel von Eisenstein Vienna
State Opera Chorus Recorded:
16-22 September 1950
When Pristine Classical launched, nearly
five years ago on 1st February 2005, this was one of the twelve
recordings which made up the starting catalogue. It had been presented to us by Peter Harrison in late
2003 as a prime example of his meticulous work and vinyl transfer
skills. It was an immediate hit: "The DECCA CD was terrible, the NAXOS
one a vast improvement over the former. The PRISTINE CD reproduces
magnificently..." wrote one happy listener. Peter went on to produce dozens of remastered recordings
for Pristine Classical, but this week we decided to go right back to
the beginning. Now also available in an Ambient Stereo version, we've
also taken the opportunity to add new notes to the cover, update the
web page, and re-encode the MP3 at 320kbps, the highest bitrate
possible. Possibly Clemens Krauss's finest recording - and not to
be missed!
Download
listening sample:
(Dieser Anstand, Ambient Stereo)In their 1956 book, The Record Guide, Edward Sackville-West and Desmond Shawe-Taylor, not a pair to mince their words, sit on the fence or hold back from expressing an opinion, wrote of this recording:
Pristine Audio is delighted to bring you an incredible brand new transcription and restoration of these discs from the golden ears of Peter Harrison of disk2disc. When I put it to Peter that Sackville-West and Shawe-Taylor seemed to like it quite a lot, he replied: "So do I - and I have five other recordings of it! The only one that comes close is a DVD with Carlos Kleiber." This really is a masterful recording, lovingly restored from near-mint original vinyl, and sounding gorgeous - in this his first commercial remastering for Pristine Audio, Peter Harrison truly excelled!
New
MP3 transfers at PADA Exclusives
Download or stream this recording and many others from only One Euro a week! Hundreds
of historic recordings are available for listening and free
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Latest
Reviews, e-mails & comments
"Not
being an opera-lover the name of Ettore Panizza was unknown to me until
I received this
CD. I imagine that I am not alone here so a little biographical
information might be useful. Born in Buenos Aires in 1875, Panizza made
his debut as assistant conductor at the Rome Opera when only 22. He was
most closely associated with La Scala, Milan, the Royal Opera House in
London, New York’s Met and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.
Interestingly, when Toscanini conducted the premiere of Puccini’s
Turandot he stopped at the point where Puccini ceased writing, thus
allowing Panizza to be the first to conduct the opera as completed by
Alfano. Panizza was also a composer of four operas: Il fidanzato del
mare (1897), Madioevo Latino (1900), Aurora (1908) reportedly his most
successful work, and Bizanzio (1939). He published an autobiography
(Medio Siglo de Vida Musical) in 1952 and died in his home town as
recently as 1967.
According to the brief notes, by Mark Obert–Thorn, on the rear inlay, it appears that Panizza made very few records, as was fairly typical at the time. His complete recorded output could be contained on less than three CDs. Almost all his recordings were made at La Scala and were of operatic music. This CD contains the sole exceptions – concert music and a recording made at the Teatro Colón. So to the Mendelssohn. It is obvious from these few performances that Panizza was a fine conductor for here are well rehearsed and performed interpretations of two masterpieces of the concert repertoire and a delightful trifle. The Hebrides Overture receives a fine reading, full of a salty sea tang and with a very tempestuous climax as the waves beat against the shore. This is a very good performance, with very little portamento. I would have expected more for this period, and apart from the occasional rather dull thud, which is the timpani, the sound is very good indeed. The Italian Symphony really sparkles here. The first movement races along at a reasonable tempo, and despite a couple of moments of scrappiness in the strings, no doubt brought about by the tempo, this is good stuff. The pilgrims’ march of the second movement is nicely paced, and the third movement has a delightfully restrained swagger, making it perfect for dancing. The final saltarello is taken at a slower speed than is usual, but it is still full of Mediterranean fire, and after the side join the tempo increases slightly. I found his to be a most satisfying account of this wonderful Symphony, and it’s as good as any, historical or otherwise, because it has such a marvellously musical logic to it. The Wedding March from the incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream receives a solid performance. There’s not much more you can do with this piece. What’s going to draw listeners to this CD is not the Mendelssohn, good though it is, but these six excerpts from Felipe Boero’s opera El Matrero, recorded within weeks of the world premiere, with the original cast. Mark Obert–Thorn believes that one reason for this recording was that the great Italian baritone Apollo Granforte was making his debut at the Teatro Colón in this season. I don’t think that we need worry about the plot. Pristine Audio doesn’t give one with the CD but a synopsis is available on their website, and it probably isn’t important anyway. The first excerpt – La Media Caña – is almost entirely orchestral, a kind of dance interlude, and it’s quite delightful, reminiscent of the music for film which later composers were to create for the wild west. The sung excerpts show an opera written in a very straightforward style, with moments of delightful Americana and passages of obvious Italian influence. Whilst it probably was the availability of Apollo Granforte who brought about this recording, I have to admit to having more than an admiration for the glorious mezzo of Nena Juarez, a rich and fruity voice, free from affectation and a fine melodic instrument. The transfers are excellent, only a very slight amount of surface noise has been retained throughout all the recordings. I am sure that this is essential in order to keep the upper register fresh and full of bloom, as it is here. This is a fascinating disk and not just for the collector of historical re–issues or the opera fanatic. Here is the work of an almost forgotten conductor whose meagre catalogue has been overlooked for too long. I welcome this chance to celebrate the work of Ettore Panizza. " - Bob Briggs, Musicweb International - - 00 - - "Just wondering if you would like a copy of these? I figure if anyone could make sonic sense of these, it would be yourself: SEATTLE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA/SIR THOMAS BEECHAM, 1943
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"It is scarcely possible to
imagine a more delightful pair of records than the complete DeccaFledermaus.
There is no spoken dialogue, but a virtually uncut performance recorded
with good balance and a wonderful bloom on the vocal and orchestral
tone. No better conductor could have been found for this delectable
score than Clemens Kraus; he handles the detail with as much care as
though it were Mozart...an almost incredible delicacy... Perhaps the
greatest musical pleasure comes from Julius Patzakand Hilde Gueden
