Guido Cantelli’s death in a November 1956 plane crash at age 36 robbed the music world of a man on his way to becoming one of the 20th century’s important podium figures. Like his mentor Arturo Toscanini, Cantelli was a perfectionist who demanded a lot from both himself and the orchestras he led. Indeed, we can hear why he rejected this 1951 Mendelssohn Italian Symphony for release. The opaque engineering, for starters, lacks the definition of the best EMI Philharmonia Orchestra recordings of similar vintage. What’s more, the conductor and orchestra seem to be feeling each other out, rather than coalescing in a meeting of minds. Everyone treads heavily in the first three movements, only letting loose for the finale, which scintillates with bravura. While Cantelli brought appreciable refinement to his later, approved Philharmonia version of this work (issued on Testament SBT 1074), neither studio reading measures up to his incisive, fiery live versions with the NBC Symphony and New York Philharmonic. Testament’s new transfer of Cantelli’s 1955 Brahms Third significantly improves upon the one that appeared in EMI’s Great Recordings of the Century series. The conductor elicits warm, rounded sonorities that never lapse into super-refinement à la Karajan at his worst. Dennis Brain’s gorgeous horn playing more than compensates for a lack of the crucial first movement repeat. Among stereo Brahms Thirds from the 1950s, some listeners might prefer Fritz Reiner’s tauter, more passionate reading (RCA) or the structural solidity of Klemperer’s imposing rendition with the Philharmonia (EMI). Cantelli collectors, however, will want to know about the present release.
