King Arturo's Court

Peter Burwasser on Classical

by Peter Burwasser

For brothers of the scratchy old record collector fraternity (I have a lifetime membership), the digital era has been a golden time. The re-issue of older recordings has become a huge segment of the industry, especially in recent years with so many once widely recorded ensembles off the big label rosters. All things being equal, I would prefer a modern recording of a piece of music to one with hissy, blurry sound, but there are endless hours from older recordings that have yet to be bettered. I would go so far as to say that because of changes over time in musical training and culture, many of the treasures from the vault are simply irreplaceable.

I could spend the next year's worth of Suite Spot columns waxing on about my favorite old-timers. For now, I'll pick one whose music-making has enthralled me for many years, and it is a musician who is widely available on a variety of labels, many at budget pricing. The conductor Arturo Toscanini was the standard bearer of classical music in his lifetime, especially in the last years of his life, in America, when the cliché of a legend in his own time really rang true.

Toscanini was an old-school disciplinarian, to a fault. His mistreatment of his musicians was actually rather despicable (and unimaginable today). But he was fighting years of ingrained traditions, or as he called them, bad habits, and his temper could flare. There is not a conductor alive today whom he did not influence. As an artist, his sound was clean and taut, and many still find his approach overly cool. What is really going on in his readings is complete honesty and integrity, an absolute rejection of self-aggrandizement, and an unfailing commitment to the vision of the composer, as found in the score. These rare qualities, combined with the maestro's impeccable baton technique, resulted in performance after performance of towering authority.

Toscanini is most revelatory in music that was mistreated by others, especially Romantic music that has often been bloated and distended, such as the symphonies of Tchaikovsky and Brahms. Best of all is his unequalled Wagner, available, alas, only in excerpted form, featuring a beautifully controlled pulse, exquisite balance and a majestic dramatic presence. It is a magic trick of sorts; Toscanini and his players work tremendously hard to make themselves disappear, leaving only Wagner for the listener to hear.

(p_burwasser@citypaper.net)