Shostakovich Symphony No 7 "Leningrad" (1942) Toscanini

Dimitri Shostakovich
Symphony No. 7 in C Major, Op. 60
"Leningrad"

1. Allegretto (00:08)
2. Moderato (poco allegretto) (28:58)
3. Adagio (39:42)
4. Allegro non troppo (57:43)

Arturo Toscanini, conductor
The NBC Symphony Orchestra

Recorded on July 19, 1942
at Studio 8-H, Radio City, Manhattan

The present recording is both historic and somewhat controversial even in its own time. Arturo Toscanini was very impressed by the symphony and became the first Western conductor to perform the score with the NBC Symphony in live broadcast. At the time it was met with enthusiastic reviews, not only by critics, but also from the composer himself. He was both grateful and thrilled at the prospect of the performance by the legendary conductor.

But that changed over time. Shostakovich had a long friendship with Mravinsky, and was also well acquainted with Temirkanov. With these great Soviet conductors at his elbows it wasn't long before they made him aware of the full performance potential of the symphony, and his impression of the Toscanini performance cooled considerably.

Toscanini himself also cooled toward it over the years. In spite of his historic first performance in the West, he did not return to it again.

With the original acoustics of the studio restored here for the first time in history it is possible to appreciate that the performance is somewhat better than what we have been listening to over the past 81 years. One of the biggest limitations of mono is that it can compress harmonic overtones. To make the fat sound thin. There is no EQ or filtering here; we are hearing what Toscanini and the live audience heard.

The transcriptions come to us in rough condition. Although effort has been taken to clean them up, surface noise remains.

Digital transfer (1989): RCA New York
Field acoustic and surface restoration (2023): Paul Howard - Yucaipa Studio

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