The present series brings together, over two volumes, all of Arturo Toscanini’s studio recordings with the Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York for the Victor and Brunswick labels, along with the two recordings of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony that Victor made during live performances in 1931 and 1933. All issued takes are presented, including several which were substituted for the original recordings in the early 1940s, as well as one alternate take unpublished on 78 rpm. As a bonus, the first volume concludes with a previously unissued studio recording which Toscanini made with the NBC Symphony in 1941.
In addition to the Beethoven Fifth there's also a recording of his Seventh Symphony, plus symphonies by Haydn - the "Clock" - and Mozart - the "Haffner", together with a selection of orchestral excerpts from the operas of Wagner and Brahms' Variations on a Theme of Haydn.
All have been transferred and digitally remastered with ground-breaking new technology by a veteran of these recordings, Mark Obert-Thorn, who first tackled these for Pearl in 1989, in what was hailed by Musical America as the finest historical reissue of the year. Hear them now in a stunning sound quality undreamed of even 30 years ago!