Description

“… this 1940 performance of the 4th Symphony penetrates to the very heart of this icy score.”
– Martin Bookspan in Prodigy

“Here is one of the most revealing and commanding of ‘unofficial’ Toscanini releases. The prize of this CD is the conductor’s only NBC presentation of the Fourth Symphony… Toscanini’s performance is a model of taste… Specifically, his avoidance of excess–the sonority is lean and purged of ripeness, the emotional tone muted and made all the more potent by sharply etched textures–heightens the music’s austere gloom, suggesting a kind of Scandinavian counterpart to the more southerly Mahlerian malaise that is so much a part of the earlier twentieth-century ethos. As an example of Toscanini’s ability to grasp and sustain an implied mood, this performance is astonishing and adds considerably to what we know of this interpretive range. … For those interested in either the conductor or composer, this CD is indispensable.”

– Mortimer H. Frank in Fanfare