This week sees the release of two broadcast recordings of Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra in the music of Robert Schumann. We present the 1946 recording of the Symphony No. 2, coupled with the 1949 recording of the Symphony No. 3, "Rhenish", both in superb new Ambient Stereo XR remasters.
Toscanini conducted relatively little Schumann - of the four symphonies he ignored the First, conducted the Fourth (and the Cello Concerto) once, prepared the Second several times, and appeared to concentrate his efforts on the Third, "Rhenish", which together with the Manfred Overture was the work he turned to most frequently.
But for these works he dedicated his full efforts, and the results were remarkable. In his discussion of Toscanini's Schumann, biographer Mortimer H, Frank was to conclude: "In short, these are among the glories of Toscanini’s years at NBC". Listen now to these glories, reproduced more gloriously than ever before.