Toscanini/NBC SO: Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 2 & 4 - HMV ALP 1145 (red/gold)

Jacket VG / LP EX

This handsome LP from His Master’s Voice (ALP 1145, English EMI pressing, red/gold label, mono, laminated flipback jacket) features legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra’s magnificent accounts of Beethoven’s Symphonies No. 2 in D Major Op. 36 and No. 4 in B-flat Major Op. 60.

Both works were vividly recorded in the spacious acoustics of Carnegie Hall, New York on 9 November 1949 and 3 February 1951, respectively, and sound truly superb here.

Though there is tremendous drive – as is to be expected with Toscanini – there is also great expressiveness and these performances, if not to everyone’s taste, nonetheless remain quite special.

There are informative liner notes on the reverse side of the jacket by Robert Ponsonby, printed in English only. The memorable cover photo of Toscanini is attributed to R.C.A.