Mendelssohn: "Italian" Symphony No 4 (1954) Toscanini/NBC NEW EDITION

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Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
Symphony No 4 in A Major, Op.90
"Italian"

1. Allegro vivace (0:08)
2. Andante con moto (7:41)
3. Con moto moderato (13:41)
4. Saltarello: Presto (19:45)

Arturo Toscanini, conducting
NBC Symphony Orchestra

Recorded Live in Carnegie Hall
February 28, 1954 and rehearsals February 26/27, 1954

This title has been a popular staple on our channel since it began. We revisited it to see how we liked it with our new standards. The answer is that we are doing it again.

We pulled out our trusty Toscanini Collection (we have both of them) to make a new master, and the EQ nearly ripped our head off.

As an engineer in my early career I learned the hard and painful way that equalization of mono is always invalid; without the field characteristic which is not present on mono it is impossible to achieve synchronization, (time align) because the field cannot reproduce itself. Many rejected tapes and unhappy clients later we learned the error of our ways, and used EQ to cut only in mono.

Mono classical artists often get a bum rap because engineers have not learned this lesson, even on the major labels. Nobody got a bummer rap than Toscanini, whose recordings have suffered from zealous attempts to "brighten" his sound with EQ. He didn't really sound like those Red Seals. No, really...

Here is this performance the way it actually sounded to the microphone.

LISTENING TIP:
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Transfer from tape (2012): Andreas K. Meyer
Full Fidelity Mastering (2021): Paul Howard - The Yucaipa Studio

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