RODZIŃSKI at the NBC Vol. 1

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.