What an incredible Christmas Eve concert! On December 24th, 1946, at New York’s Rockefeller Center, Toscanini conducted Beethoven and Wagner with savage energy. In the Coriolan Overture, the sound that comes from the orchestra is as dry and cutting as a blade. But with Toscanini, dryness doesn’t necessarily mean coldness: the strings show some warmth and affectionate expression, and the whole performance burns with dramatic passion. The 18-minute excerpt from the rehearsal of Coriolan constitutes a fascinating document on Toscanini’s working methods. The introduction to the Third Piano Concerto is ideally shaped and establishes a haunting atmosphere of anguished expectation. Dame Myra Hess’ straightforward but sensitive playing cleverly integrates itself in this ironclad frame. Her fingers may not be as fast and flawless as the NBC Symphony’s challenging virtuosity demands, but she has enough rhythmic rigor to match Toscanini’s whipped phrasings. A moving Largo and a playful, incisive Rondo prove that the Maestro was capable of relaxing when needed. With “Rhine Journey” from Götterdämmerung, Toscanini and his orchestra immerse themselves in Wagner’s orchestral fabric with voluptuous pleasure and expressive urgency. The transfers are as clean and truthful as possible considering the noisy sources.
