"Fabien Sevitzky appears to have been an excellent conductor, eminently deserving of renewed attention. In these performances he imposes tight orchestral discipline and firm tempos, but he also generates rhythmic vitality, urgent momentum, and dramatic excitement. The Indianapolis Symphony, too, long ensconced as a respected but not renowned member of the second tier of American orchestras, shows itself to have been a very fine ensemble in this era. The sound quality of Obert-Thorn’s restorations is good enough that listeners could contemplate purchasing this release simply for enjoyment of the works included, and not just for its historical value. I look forward with eager anticipation to further releases in this series." - Fanfare, 2017, on Volume One

Previous volumes have featured a wide variety of music, from Brahms to Gershwin, Dvorak to Enescu - but it has to be said that the majority of composers represented thus far have, unsurprisingly, been Russian.

Volume Four continues this trend, with two Russian first symphonies - from Tchaikovsky  and the less well-known Vasily Kalinnikov. The latter is best known by his Symphony No. 1, premièred in 1897 just four years before his premature death from tuberculosis at the age of just 35.

Newly transferred and restored by Mark Obert-Thorn, this is another fine-sounding release that proves just what a fabulous combination Sevitzky and the Indianpolis orchestra were.

"Mr. Toscanini would probably agree with the Arabian philosopher who discovered in a small ring the reflection of the completeness of the universe. Here, in simple melodic lines and small dimensioned forms, are the profound formal ideas which underly the symphonies. The enchanting simplicity of the Septet, in a word, is matched by its consumate workmanship. To achieve a like simplicity and mastery in performance is an accomplishment of only secondary magnitude. Mr. Toscanini accomplished this so felicitously that at times one wanted to laugh aloud in sheer exhilaration at his achievement. There were not only grace and wit, but also a pervasive beauty of song in the playing which provided the last essential of a great interpretation.

The utter absence of bombast or mere dramatic rhetoric, and the quintessence of drama and heroism in the “Egmont” score were precisely reflected in the performance. The Beethoven Seventh Symphony had the same unsurpassable sincerity and complete absence of effect for effect’s sake, or for any reasons save those both implicit and explicit in the score." The New York Times, 1939

This year sees the 80th anniversary of Toscanini's legendary 1939 Beethoven Cycle with the NBC Symphony Orchestra.  This fourth sonically transformed volume adds the Symphony No. 7, the Egmont Overture and an augmented version of the Septet for Woodwind, Horn and Strings to this hugely popular series.