The caveat to this
remarkable two-disc set must be the
recorded sound. It’s boxy and limited
and given the off-air recording date
of 1935-36 that’s only to be expected.
Nevertheless persistence is called
for because the performances are formidable
and interpretatively cut from the
finest cloth.
The most important
things here are the two Serenades,
which Toscanini programmed infrequently
and never recorded commercially. Given
the magnificence of the performances
one can mark this as a decided loss.
The performances were given a week
apart at the end of March and the
beginning of April 1935. The D major
is lyrically buoyant and superbly
eloquent. The lusty drones of the
opening movement are balanced by the
refined liquidity of the wind playing;
the tempo is not over-pressed. And
the sinewy directional command of
the slow movement – a rapt Adagio
non troppo – has commanding, graphic
proportions. By the finale the winds
are in tremendous form, the whole
performance in fact attests to their
warmth and incision.
The companion Serenade
fares equally well. Its slow movement
is the highlight, warmly moulded and
nobly unfolded, albeit with some sectional
imprecision – which hardly matter
given the outstanding and communing
depth of the playing. The warm joviality
of the Rondo, with its complement
of hunting horns, and sturdy rhythmic
profile runs it a close second though.
Toscanini was taped live in this with
the NBC in 1942 but this earlier inscription
is the warmer, more malleable and
preferable, albeit in worse sound.
The second disc opens
with a sonorous and yet yielding Academic
Festival Overture and continues
with the Second Piano Concerto. The
commercial recording Toscanini made
with Horowitz is a well enough known
artefact but this Casadesus survival,
though once out on LP, much less so.
The uneasy partnership between the
conductor and his son-in-law Horowitz
is reflected in their recording, which
I’ve always disliked. Casadesus’s
performance is a different matter.
He’s lithe, lean, light on the pedal,
and drives into the drama at the heart
of the first movement with enviable
determination. The slow movement is
warmly textured, poetically inflected
by the French pianist and if not the
last word in expressive penetration
still finely nuanced. Altogether this
is the better performance, and casts
the irascible and uneven Horowitz
recording in a different light. As
a rather unexpected bonus we have
some big-boned Part Songs sung by
the New York Ladies’ Choir and recorded
in January 1936.
One must reiterate
the question as to the recorded sound
but reinforce the superiority of the
performances. The Serenades in particular
are a joyful example of Toscanini’s
mid thirties way with Brahms – in
fact the set, well annotated and presented,
is bursting with important things.
Jonathan Woolf
Robert Casadesus (piano) ¹ 
