Evening star., 1953-04-12
TurntubIe Talk
Tosconini at Work
The Master Finally Records Beethoven's
'Missu SoIemnis' in Three Sessions

Credo. The Credo brought
momentary CONSERVATION In
the control room. Mr.. Mohr
asked for a few bars to check
the volume level. Toscanini
conducted the few bars. Then
instead Of stopping, his baton
went right on. The engineers
hastily started the tape wheels
spinning. When Toscanini was
asked at the end to go back for
those first missing bars, it
brought the days only real ex-
plosion. "Oh, Dio!" he cried,
and then a stream of Italian.
But he complied. Then the
session ended-a little after
noon.
That night Victor's crew set
up shop for three hours in
Toscanini's 50-foot, two-story
living room in Riverdale, at
the edge of the Bronx. The
host and his guests listened to
all the "Missa" takes and two
encores - unreleased record
lngS Of Weber'S "Freischutz"
and "Oberon" overtures. Tos-
canini again conducted from
his chair. He was in high
good humor.
A Longer Session
Tuesday nights session was
much like Mondays, only an
hour longer. The conducting
was a bit more vocal this time.
The Sanctus went without in
cident. The Agnus Del was
hardly under way when a
cracked voice was shouting at
the violins and the baton was
beating loudly on the podium
rail. The red light, of course,
had to go out so the tape
machines could start again.
Another shout broke into the
Agnus Dei'S cloSe-immediately
after which ToScanini remorse-
fully shot his hand to his fore
head; he had forgotten that
light!
During a break there was an
earnest conference outside his
dressing room. First Clarinet-
ist Alex Williams wanted to
know how a passage should
go, for the clarinetS had been
assigned to reinforce the oboes.
ToScanini hummed the passage
loud. He also sang a note for
Mezzo Nan Merriman. and
later on he sounded a hearty
"glo-o-o-ria" for the benefit
OF the chorus. On another
occasion he made some wise
crack which dissolved all into
laughter. When the hour grew
late, it was Toscanini. rather
than his younger colleagues,
who had to be persuaded to
go home.
Superstition, Perhaps
Wednesday night brought
another three and one-half-
hour listening session in Riv.
erdale, and Thursday aft
ernoon a final 60 at
rerecording. Walter declined
to invite an outsider to the
playback session We've
never had any one-maybe it's
a superstition" he explained.
l didn't get to the last Car
negie session, either. But
according to report. everything
went smoothly. Victor hopes
ToScanini will approve the
recording for release sometime
next year.
The appearance Of this man,
at 86, waving his baton
through hours Of taxing
record-making without ex-
hauStion and with unwavering
command was striking enough.
But the picture that fingers
most vividly goes back to the
preceding Fridays rehearsal.
There. seeking to inspire in his
singers a feeling appropriate
to Beethoven's reverent Sane
tus. he said gently dn Ital-
ian):. This must go slowly
and mysteriously, as If coming
from Heaven; imagine you are
in church, receiving the bene-
diction by praying" And he
poised his hands before him
and bowed his head. It was a
beautiful moment, one which
revealed much of why Tosca-
mini Is what he is.