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"In 1939, his third season with the NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini conducted a series of six broadcast concert programs comprising all of Beethoven’s symphonies, several of the composer’s overtures, and various other works. The first five concerts took place in NBC’s Studio 8H, with the finale at Carnegie Hall. Toscanini’s approach to Beethoven is best known through the iconic set of the Nine Symphonies, issued by RCA, taken from various NBC SO concerts and studio sessions from the late 1940s to early 50s.

 The RCA set remains a magnificent achievement, and forms a cornerstone of the Beethoven discography. But the 1939 Beethoven cycle, while not the equal sonically of its successor, is for this writer (and many others) the more compelling. Toscanini’s studio recordings of the 1930s, and perhaps even more emphatically, his concerts from that same period, reveal an artistic approach that contrasts with the conductor’s later and more familiar work. To be sure, the intensity, breathtaking precision of attack, superb instrumental balances, and sense of proportion and architecture are present in both cycles. But the Toscanini of the 1930s employed a much broader range and spectrum of tempos. That, coupled with a greater flexibility of phrasing, give the earlier performances more variety, pulse, drama, and ultimately for this writer, musical and dramatic satisfaction. 

The 1939 cycle represents Toscanini at the height of his powers, inspiring the NBC Symphony musicians to deliver some of the most electrifying Beethoven performances on record."

1-1.Adagio Molto - Allegro Con Brio-8:03

1-2.Andante Cantabile-6:23

1-3.Menuetto: Allegro Molto E Vivace-3:13

1-4.Adagio - Allegro Molto E Vivace-5:38

Symphony No.2 D Major Op. 36

1-5.Adagio Molto - Allegro Con Brio-12:05

1-6.Larghetto-10:45

1-7.Scherzo: Allegro Vivace-3:16

1-8.Allegro Molto-6:21

1-9.Overture "Leonore I"-8:31

1-10.Overture "Leonore II"-13:14

2-1.Allegro Con Brio-13:55

2-2.Marcia Funebre: Adagio Assai-16:24

2-3.Scherzo: Allegro Vivace-5:21

2-4.Allegro Molto-10:39

2-5.Overture "Fidelio"-7:14

2-6.Overture "Egmont"8:39

2-7.Bonus: Overture "Die Geshöpfe Des Prometheus"4:44

3-1.Adagio - Allegro Vivace-12:36

3-2.Adagio-8:52

3-3.Menuetto: Allegro Vivace-5:10

3-4.Allegro Ma Non Troppo-7:07

Symphony No.5 C Minor Op. 67

3-5.Allegro Con Brio-7:22

3-6.Andante Con Moto-9:22

3-7.Allegro-4:46

3-8.Allegro-8:51

3-9.Bonus I: 4th Movement From Symphony No.1-4:30

3-10.Bonus II: 4th Movement From Symphony No.5-8:41

4-1.Allegro Ma Non Troppo (Erwachen Heiterer Empfindungen11:20

4-2.Andante Molto Mosso (Szene Am Bach)-11:37

4-3.Allegro (Lustiges Zusammensein Del Landleute)-4:58

4-4.Allegro (Gewitter, Sturm)-3:24

4-5.Allegretto (Hirtengesang)-8:46

4-6.Poco Sostenuto - Vivace-11:16

4-7.Allegretto-7:58

4-8.Presto - Assai Meno Presto6:44

4-9.Allegro Con Brio-6:44

4-10.Overture "Coriolan"-6:54

5-1.Allegro Vivace E Con Brio-9:05

5-2.Allegro Scherzando3:38

5-3.Tempo di Menuetto-4:40

5-4.Allegro Vivace-7:15

Septet E Flat Major op.20

5-5.Poco Sostenuto - Vivace-7:57

5-6.Allegretto-8:25

5-7-Presto-3:06

5-8.Allegro Con Brio-7:27

5-9.Tema-2:28

5-10.Andante Con Variazioni-5:40

5-11.Overture "Leonore III"-13:11

6-1.Choral Fantasy C Minor Op.80-16:35

6-2.Allegro Ma Non Troppo-12:22

6-3.Molto Vivace-12:31

6-4.Adagio Molto E Cantabile-12:47

6-5.Presto - Allegro Assai

Soprano Vocals – Jarmila Novotná

Contralto Vocals – Kerstin Thorborg

Tenor Vocals – Jan Peerce

Bass Vocals – Nicola Moscona

Choir – Westminster Choir

22:54