NBC Symphony Orchestra
The NBC Symphony Orchestra was one of the world's fabled orchestras. David Sarnoff, chairman of RCA which owned both RCAVictor Records and NBC radio -- offered conductor Arturo Toscanini a specially-built orchestra of the highest standards.
Offering the highest salaries of any orchestra and a 52-week contract, NBC attracted top orchestral musicians: 21 of them were former section leaders of other orchestras. Artur Rodzinski molded them into a precision ensemble and Rodzinski led its first concerts. The orchestra took the air under Toscanini on Christmas day, 1937.
It was immediately ranked as one of the world's great orchestras, famous for its precise, lean sound, even though the players had to do routine radio work in addition to symphony concerts. For 17 years it was conducted by many leading world-class conductors; Leopold Stokowski was its co-conductor from 1941 to 1944. It made numerous classic recordings for RCA, sometimes recording as the "RCA Victor Symphony," including the famous recording of Richard Rodgers' Victory at Sea.
The orchestra had many distinguished alumni: violist William Primrose; violinist Josef Gingold; cellists Naoum Benditzky (of the Gordon Quartet) and Alan Shulman (Stuyvesant Quartet); and future conductors Milton Katims and Frank Brieff, to name just a few. Soloists who recorded with the orchestra included Marian Anderson, Vladimir Horowitz, Jascha Heifetz, and Artur Rubinstein. Some of these recordings, and a few complete opera recordings, were conducted by Fritz Reiner.
Toscanini retired after his April 4, 1954, concert. NBC laid the orchestra off, but it refused to die. Most of its members (with a few new players) reassembled as the Symphony of the Air, which went on to its own distinguished, if brief, renown.
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Mozart: Orchestral Works (Live)
Classical - Released by Andromeda on 3 Jan 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schumann 200th Anniversary Tribute - Toscanini, Walter - 1940 & 1946
Classical - Released by Guild Music on 31 Aug 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cherubini, Smetana & Mendelssohn: Anacréon, ou L’amour fugitif - Má vlast - Symphony NO. 5, OP.107 (Live)
Classical - Released by Altair on 17 Mar 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: Overtures & Other Orchestral Works (Live)
NBC Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Guido Cantelli
Classical - Released by Artemisia on 20 Jan 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Classical Masters: Beethoven Selections (Symphonie No. 5 Op. 67 C-Moll (Schicksals-Sinfonie) & Symphonie No. 7 Op. 92 In A-Dur
Classical - Released by Carinco AG on 6 Dec 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto, OP. 64
NBC Symphony Orchestra, Jascha Heifetz, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra
Concertos - Released by Altair on 3 Aug 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Graener, Barber & Debussy: Die Flöte von Sanssouci - Adagio for Strings, OP. 11 - Essay for Orchestra NO. 1 - Images, Ibéria
Symphonic Music - Released by Altair on 4 Apr 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Handel, Ippolitov-Ivanov & J Strauss II: Symphony No. 5 - Solitude - Humoresque - Preludes - Pastorale - In A Manger - Tales from the Vienna Woods - On The Beautiful Blue Danube
Léopold Stokowski, Leopold Stokowski and His Symphony Orchestra, NBC Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Infinity on 27 Jan 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: Tannhäuser Prelude to Act III (Original version) -Seigfried Idyll - Götterdammerüng, Dawn and Rhine Journey - Die Meistersinger, Prelude, Act 1
Arturo Toscanini, NBC Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Infinity on 3 Aug 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi, Mozart & Brahms: Concerto Grosso - Symphonies No. 40 & No. 1
Mischa Mischakoff, Edwin Bachman, Oswaldo Mazzuchi, Arturo Toscanini, NBC Symphony Orchestra
Symphonic Music - Released by Infinity on 28 Sep 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bizet & Gershwin: La Jolie Fille de Perth, Gb 6 - L’Arlésienne Suite NO.1 & 2, Gb 121 - Carmen Suite NO.1 - An American in Paris
Classical - Released by Altair on 8 Feb 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky & Beethoven (Live)
NBC Symphony Orchestra, RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra, Jascha Spivakovsky
Keyboard Concertos - Released by Altair on 30 Jun 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Symphony No.3, OP. 90 -Roussel: Sinfonietta, OP. 52 -Berlioz: La Damnation De Faust, Légende Dramatique, Premiére Partie (Live)
Symphonic Music - Released by Altair on 7 Feb 2021
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Leopold Stokowski Conducts Vaughan Williams, Butterworth & Antheil
Classical - Released by Signum-Cala on 26 Apr 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert, Britten & Wagner: Symphony NO. 8 - Sinfonia da Requiem - Rienzi - Overture
Symphonic Music - Released by Altair on 6 May 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Die Zauberflöte Act II, K. 620 - Divertimento NO. 15, K. 287 - Symphony NO. 35, K. 385 (Live)
Concertos - Released by Altair on 21 Mar 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Heifetz and Violin Concertos, Vol. 2
Jascha Heifetz, Emmanuel Bay, Arturo Toscanini, Sir Thomas Beecham,Charles Munch, NBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra,Boston Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Infinity on 14 Dec 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cherubini, Mozart & Tchaikovsky: Orchestral Works
NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini
Classical - Released by Stradivarius on 3 May 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Amfitheatrof, antheil & schönberg: de profundis clamavi - symphony no. 4 - piano concerto
Eduard Steuermann, Léopold Stokowski, NBC Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Infinity on 23 May 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner, Purcell, Tchaikovsky & Prokofiev
Leopold Stokowski and His Symphony Orchestra, New York Symphony Orchestra, NBC Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Altair on 17 Mar 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Graener, Barber, Debussy & Dvorák: Die Flöte von Sanssouci - Adagio for Strings - Essay for Orchestra No. 1, world première performance - Ibéria - Symphony No. 9, "From the New World"
Arturo Toscanini, NBC Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Infinity on 20 Jan 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo