TOSCANINI Brahms: The 1948 Cycle, Volume 2 (1948) - Pristine PASC710

TOSCANINI CONCERT AGAIN IS TELECAST

Making His Third Appearance on Medium, Conductor Leads Fourth Brahms Program

Arturo Toscanini went before the television cameras for the third time yesterday when his regular Saturday concert with the NBC Symphony was both telecast and broadcast from studio 8-H in Radio City. The program was the fourth of eight he is devoting to the works of Brahms.

The problems of the cameramen were reduced during part of the program, for the second selection was the Liebeslieder Waltzes, in which they did not have to capture a whole orchestra. The work was performed by a chorus of only seventeen singers, with Arthur Balsam and Joseph Kahn at two pianos.

In this there were interesting double images, the handsome conductor being seen in close-up while the chorus was seen on a smaller scale in a dimmer exposure that gave the illusion of showing behind and through his head. And throughout there was a studied attempt to relate the camera work with the music.

But the conviction was deepened in one watcher that concerts should be heard and not seen. The images on the screen fought for the mind's attention and generally won out over the ears that were trying to concentrate on the music's sound. And the images certainly succeeded in shifting the emphasis from the music to the performers.

This stress on performers rather than on music is one of the things bedeviling music in this country. If television concerts catch on, it is sure to be accelerated. The likelihood of wide popularity, though, is still to be determined.

Because there were only three cameras in stationary positions and they were obliged to pick up their shots under concert conditions, yesterday's program on the television screen seemed like an inferior motion picture.

The big work was the concerto in A minor for violin and 'cello. This allowed for a good opening. During the brief orchestral introduction Mr. Toscanini was seen in close-up. Then Frank Miller, the 'cellist, began alone and the cameras switched to him. When Mischa Mischakoff, the violinist, came in, the camera turned on him alone with the whole orchestra not being shown till its turn came after the two long solos.

But after this one grew tired of the switching back and forth from a limited number of shots at fixed distances. It was good to return to the studio for the closing Hungarian Dance No. 1 in G minor, where the orchestra could he heard in its full splendor and the eyes were no longer limited to a small rectangular screen.

R. P., The New York Times, Sunday November 14, 1948