This week we bring you the second of Artur Rodziński's three preliminary NBC Symphony Orchestra concerts, the fifth of six before the orchestra was delivered to Arturo Toscanini for his Christmas Day broadcast in 1937.
The program was, for the first of many times in the orchestra's illustrious history, themed, with a set of three pieces by Russian composers - beginning with Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, the Stravinsky's Petrushka Suite, and culminating in Shostakovich's Symphony No. 1 - played with "dazzling brilliance" in the words of the next day's Tribune, and sounding astonishingly good 85 years later.
CHOPIN PROMOTION: From 3pm Paris time, Friday 25 February, and for exactly one week, we mark the 212th birthday of Chopin with a 10% discount on all our recordings of his music, in download or CD format - the discount is automatic and applied at the checkout.
