Now that's a great picture of the Maestro in action and totally in control! This is just one of many stark and stern-looking images that helped to popularize the cult of Toscanini in the first part of the Twentieth Century. From the scattered accounts I've read about Toscanini so far, he was a pretty fierce and fearsome presence on the podium. Yet, his influence on the world of serious music continues into the present as the echoes of his work aesthetic continue to reverberate in the approaches of even modern conductors like Alan Gilbert. I recently found this book about Toscanini at a local thrift store.........
I believe the author is one of Toscanini's grandchildren. Part of the premise of the book is to explore how Toscanini's American career rose with the emergence of consumer culture in the United States. Toscanini managed to gain celebrity status on par with political and popular figures of his day. This status helped to set a standard of classical music appreciation in the United States on a hitherto unknown level. I'm only a chapter into the book, but I did happen to notice a pretty unusual photo on the inside spread. Check this out:
I reckon this was a promotional picture RCA used to advertise its entrance into the world of 45 RPM discs. And, indeed, classical music did briefly have a presence in the marketplace on 7 inch vinyl! I found a bunch of these a few months ago. Interesting to note how red vinyl was used - and not just by RCA - to designate classical releases on 45. See here:
Some of the boxes contained as many as four discs. The idea being that a person could stack the discs in order to hear an extended piece over several discs - flipping the entire pile to bring the work to conclusion. I brought home a few of these sets to check out the fidelity overall. In general, I found the results to be less than compelling. Which is a shame since 45 discs can often be quite exciting, at least for pop and rock and roll music. I think one look at the enormous amount of dead wax (the area between the end of the grooves and the start of the label in the middle) pretty much tells the whole story - the goal was to cram music onto the disc, not to create an audiophile experience. Well, at least these things look cool!
If the 45 RPM disc didn't really deliver the sonic goods, an even more inconvenient format WOULD. Here's a picture of the latest addition to the family:
I bagged this TEAC X-3 Mk II machine off the 'bay recently. I had been wanting to replace my old reel to reel machine (which bit the dust) for some time now. The TEAC is a modern upgrade to the old AKAI machine I've had for many years. This is what the AKAI I have looks like in comparison:
A pretty cool machine (with an 8-track deck built into the side) generally, but not exactly audiophile. I wouldn't have bothered to upgrade were it not for the fact that I must have done something really wrong since the left channel is toast (no sound, no nothing alas!). Well, in terms of sound quality, the TEAC is a major upgrade! And, as luck would have it, I chanced upon a major score of epic proportions at a thrift store last weekend.........
Eight classical reels - all at 7.5 IPS - for about a dollar a reel. OMFG!!! I haven't played them all yet, but the ones I have sound AMAZING. Where 45 discs failed, open reels hit the mark big time. I noticed the RCA jobs have the entire program on one side also - no flipping reels (the TEAC does not do auto-reverse, alas!).
Quite a nice pile indeed! It's too bad that Toscanini didn't live to see the stereo age. How interesting it would have been to hear The Maestro conduct some Beethoven in stereo! As it is, there are a lot of great classical reels out there - some of them quite collectable too. This certainly would have been the audiophile's choice, as impractical and wonky as it is to thread that tape through the machine each time. Here's to another obsession (as if I need another)!
Yet, as I am typing this, I find myself playing a CD of Mahler's 7th (Bernstein conducting the NY Philharmonic) for the third time today - hearing this symphony for the first time and trying to get a handle on it. Hearing great sound wasn't always so easy. Sometimes checking out past formats can be fun and rewarding. Yet, I wonder if the marketing of classical music in the digital age isn't poised for a renewed interest. No longer are consumers strapped in to the 80-minute compact disc format. Could we now have the entire cycle of Beethoven symphonies on one hi-res Blue Ray disc? You bet. Or streaming off a hard drive through foobar. Is music still a commodity? Was it ever? These and more questions to be debated in the future. Until then - no matter what the format - happy listening! Toscanini approves!
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