"It will I think be generally admitted that it would be difficult at the present day to gather a better cast than this - a cast in which there are no weak spots at all. I rate this issue as one of the best complete operas so far. Tebaldi makes a charming and unaffected Mimi, whose Addio senza rancor and death-bed reminiscence of her first meeting with Rodolfo are most touching. Prandelli, with his lighter lyrical style, saves Rodolfo from being the crashing egotistical bore he too often is; his sensitivity and his dolcissimo singing are worthy of what has been called the sincerest form of flattery." - The Gramophone, 1952

Following the success and critical acclaim given to our XR-remastered 1950's studio opera recordings featuring Maria Callas, it seems only natural that we also turn our attention to her great "rival", and thus the classic Decca recordings of Renate Tebaldi.

The improvements here are at least as dramatic as heard in previous Pristine issues - here's praise for our 1956 Beecham Bohème from Fanfare: "Anyone who loves this recording will want the Pristine transfer, and even those who have reservations about the performance should hear it. There is so much more color and warmth to the voices that the performance takes on a glow even beyond what we all thought was present before."

In 1937 the National Broadcasting Company managed to secure a major coup in hiring Arturo Toscanini to conduct a specially created orchestra for a series of concerts. Toscanini insisted that the orchestra's initial five weeks of rehearsals be conducted under the expert baton of the already renowned orchestra-builder, Artur Rodziński.

Rodziński conducted the first "dress rehearsal" broadcast of the new NBC Symphony Orchestra, then a month later his first full concert broadcast with the orchestra, on 4 December 1937, from which this release is entirely derived.

This volume begins with Harty's arrangement of Handel's Water Music, followed by Sibelius' Pohjola's Daughter, two of Debussy's Nocturnes - Nuages and Fêtes - and finishes with a superb (and for the NBC SO, first of many) rendition of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Notes and an additional essay have been specially provided by Richard Rodzinski, the conductor's son.

This week we return to Copenhagen and some of the last recordings made of conductor Fritz Busch with the State Radio Symphony Orchestra there in 1950 and 1951.

As with the previous releases of Busch we've made in conjunction with the Busch Brothers Archive in Germany, much of this has been issued before - but once again we've been able to transform it using XR remastering into something quite remarkably better, as recent reviews testify. Take a listen to the online sample from Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony to hear just what I mean!

The extra special bonus here for collectors is a unique and previously unissued recording in the conductor's discography - his only known recording of music by Rossini, the Overture to his opera Semiramide, taken from a privately made acetate disc and drawn from the Archive's extensive collection of Busch-related material.