The catalogue contains quite a number of performances of Verdi’s Requiem
conducted by Toscanini. There is, for example, a live 1938 performance,
also from New York, which was reviewed
for MusicWeb International by Jonathan Woolf. That performance, which
I’ve not heard, used three of the soloists who feature here, the exception
being that Charles Kullman was the tenor in 1938. There’s another
1938 performance, given just a few weeks later than the one reviewed
by Jonathan, but this time with BBC forces in London’s Queen’s Hall
(Testament SBT2-1362). For that performance Milanov and Moscona were
once again on duty while Kerstin Thorborg and Helge Rosvaenge took
the mezzo and tenor parts.
It’s worth pointing out at the outset, that Music & Arts have
issued these performances before, firstly as CD-240 (1986) in a restoration
by Maggi Payne and secondly as CD-4240 (2003) in a restoration by
Graham Newton. This latest incarnation offers a brand-new (2012) restoration
by Kit Higginson. I’m slightly mystified as to why Music & Arts
have chosen to place the Te Deum at the end of the second
disc when Harvey Sachs makes it clear in his informative notes that
the concert began with the Te Deum. It would have been perfectly
possible to arrange the CDs in the same order. One other slight disappointment
is that each movement of the Requiem is presented as a single track
whereas many recordings of the work, including the Testament issue
of the 1938 London concert, split the longer movements into more than
one track.
This 1940 reading of the Requiem is a very fine one indeed even though
there are a number of blemishes of tuning and ensemble such as often
happen in the white heat of live performance. Harvey Sachs notes the
most significant examples in the booklet. One of these involves Jussi
Björling who, in the ‘Lux aeterna’, doesn’t hold a top G flat for
long enough (7:38). As a result his next entry is early and he has
to stop singing for a bar of two to regain his place. To be honest,
however, one would have to be following with a score or know the work
extremely well to spot this and it’s equally true of the other small
errors to which Mr Sachs very honestly points that they don’t mar
one’s enjoyment of a remarkable performance.
I’ve mentioned Björling early on because his presence is one advantage
– perhaps the most compelling advantage - that this 1940 account enjoys
over the 1938 London performance. In his notes for the Testament issue
Harvey Sachs refers, rightly, to the “seemingly effortless lyricism”
of Björling in 1940. Fine artist though he is, Rosvaenge isn’t in
Björling’s class in this repertoire; he can’t, for example, float
the ‘Hostias’ as beautifully. The ‘Ingemisco’ is pretty special in
Björling’s hands too.
Zinka Milanov sings in both performances and though she does well
in 1940 – she and Björling are the pick of the 1940 soloists – I think
she’s even better in 1938. She seems more relaxed and in command there.
As Harvey Sachs fairly points out, she seems under increasing strain
during the ‘Libera me’, especially in the last stretch of the unaccompanied
passage with the chorus, leading up to the top B flat. To be honest,
at that point she runs out of steam in this New York performance and
the final note is neither hit truly nor sustained properly. Hear her
in 1938 to experience what she could really do. Also common to both
performances is Nicola Moscona. I fear that I don’t care for his 1940
performance very much at all. All too often he sounds blustery and
I don’t feel that he sings with sufficient good taste. He sounds lachrymose
in the ‘Lacrymosa’ section of the Dies Irae – as does Bruna Castagna
– and he’s also rather lugubrious in the ‘Domine Jesu Christe’ movement.
To my ears he’s on much better form in the 1938 London performance
where he provides a solid foundation to the solo quartet. Perhaps
it helps that he’s recorded less closely in that performance as compared
with 1940.
I’m sorry to say that I’m not too enamoured with Bruna Castagna either.
Frequently her tone seems to have an edge to it for which I don’t
really care, especially in her lower register. In the ‘Recordare’
she “emotes” rather too much and some of her vowel sounds are odd.
In the ‘Liber scriptus’ she takes more breaths than I would have expected
from an artiste of her stature and as a result the line is chopped
up.
Even if the soloists don’t always give unalloyed pleasure they also
do many things very well. The contributions of the choir and orchestra
are very strong indeed. One has the very definite impression that
in both the 1938 London performance and this present one the musicians
were galvanised into giving their all. The playing of the NBC Symphony
Orchestra is alert and full-blooded. The Westminster Choir also does
very well. In the Kyrie they give notice that they’re going
to sing responsively for the Maestro and passages such as the ‘Tuba
mirum’ are very exciting. The ‘Rex tremendae’ is imposing and impassioned.
The choir also delivers the Sanctus very well; the music
is made to sound jubilant.
Toscanini’s direction is clearly inspiring. Harvey Sachs rightly draws
attention to the flexibility of the reading. I continue to find Carlo
Maria Giulini a preferable guide to this work simply because he brings
out even more of the reflective side than Toscanini does while not
underplaying the dramatic elements. However, Toscanini’s interpretations
of the score are always deeply impressive and this is one of the very
finest to have come my way. You can tell that every bar, every phrase
has been deeply considered. More than that, however, the flexibility
of what we hear shows this to be a reading that is felt on the day
by the conductor, who shapes the performance from moment to moment
as the music unfolds.
Inevitably the sound has its limitations but I found that one soon
forgets one is listening to a “vintage” recording, which is in itself
a tribute to the quality of the account and the electricity of the
interpretation. Some things are managed extremely well by the engineers,
not least the distant trumpets in the ‘Tuba mirum’, and overall the
sound is pretty amazing for its age. I’d say that this recording has
the edge, sonically, over the 1938 London performance though that’s
pretty remarkable also. As I haven’t heard this 1940 in its previous
iterations I can’t say whether Kit Higginson’s remastering surpasses
the efforts of his predecessors but he’s done a very fine job and
one can only presume that Music & Arts consider that this latest
transfer represents a further advance.
I was rather disconcerted by the start of the Te Deum. Toscanini gets
his basses and tenors to sing the opening lines of chant loudly and
in what I can only call a lusty fashion. He does the same thing in
his 1954 live recording, also made in Carnegie Hall, but there the
men of the Robert Shaw Chorale are a bit more refined (review).
I grant that there is no dynamic indication in the vocal score but
the performances which I’ve heard and in which I’ve taken part have
almost invariably begun softly and with an air of mystery - I prefer
that. Toscanini’s way does somewhat compromise the impact of the blazing
ff cry of ‘Sanctus’ a few moments later. Once we’re past
the opening, however, it’s a very good performance. What I always
think of as the wall of sound – long before Phil Spector! – at ‘Salvum
fac populum tuum, Domine’ (9:13) is fervent and there’s fervour of
a very different, subdued nature at ‘Dignare, Domine’ (11:14); indeed,
from here to the very end the performance is marvellously controlled
and is delivered with great conviction. I had the impression, perhaps
wrongly, that the great climaxes were slightly overloaded in this
work but overall the recorded sound is still pretty remarkable.
Some collectors are allergic to applause after live recordings so
I should point out that there is applause after both works. This scarcely
constitutes a reason for passing up this set which contains what are
by any standards two remarkable Verdi interpretations. It’s certainly
a set that all Toscanini devotees will want to possess though I’d
argue that its appeal is wider: to all who relish great conducting.
John Quinn
see also review
by Paul C Godfrey
