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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Russian Masterworks: Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky & Prokofiev
NBC Symphony Orchestra, Léopold Stokowski
Klassiek - Released by Signum-Cala on 26 apr. 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Toscanini - Mendelssohn 200 Anniversary Tribute
NBC Symphony Orchestra, Jascha Heifetz, Edna Philips
Klassiek - Released by Guild Music on 31 mrt. 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Symphonies Nos. 1 - 4 (Toscanini Edition)
NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini
Klassiek - Released by The Golden Legacy of Music on 24 nov. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Arturo Toscanini conducts the music of France
NBC Symphony Orchestra, Jarmila Novotna, New York Philharmonic, Studio soprano,, Arturo Toscanini, Studio chorus
Klassiek - Released by Music and Arts Programs of America on 1 nov. 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: 9 Symphonies
Klassiek - Released by Andromeda on 1 jul. 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Elgar from America, Vol. 2
Klassiek - Released by SOMM Recordings on 21 aug. 2020
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: La Walkyrie, Extraits & Le crépuscule des Dieux, Extraits (1941 Live Version, Mono Version)
Arturo Toscanini, Helen Traubel, Lauritz Melchior, NBC Symphony Orchestra
Klassiek - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Concerto pour piano No. 2 (Mono Version)
Vladimir Horowitz, Arturo Toscanini, NBC Symphony Orchestra
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1953
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikosky: Suite de Casse-noisette - Waldteufel: Les patineurs - Rossini: Ouverture de Guillaume Tell (Mono Version)
NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1957
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
BRAHMS / TCHAIKOVSKY: Piano Concertos (Horowitz) (1940-1941)
Vladimir Horowitz, NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini
Concerten voor klavier - Released by Naxos on 18 apr. 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grosse Pianisten - Vladimir Horowitz
NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini, Vladimir Horowitz
Klassiek - Released by Dokuments on 16 feb. 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Orchestral Works (Live)
NBC Symphony Orchestra, Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra, Bruno Walter
Klassiek - Released by Archipel on 1 apr. 2022
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Rossini: Ouvertures d'opéras (Mono Version)
NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1957
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: Selection from Concerto No. 12
Klassiek - Released by LRC Ltd. - Groove Merchant Records on 21 mei 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: Faust Overture - Siegfried Idyll - Mahler: Symphony No. 1 (1939)
NBC Symphony Orchestra, Bruno Walter, Audience
Klassiek - Released by Music and Arts Programs of America on 1 jan. 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert, Britten & Wagner: Symphony No 8, 'Unfinished' - Sinfonia da Requiem - Rienzi, Overture
Guido Cantelli, NBC Symphony Orchestra
Klassiek - Released by Infinity on 1 sep. 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Carmen Dragon & Arturo Toscanini direct the French Classical
Carmen Dragon, Arturo Toscanini, The Capitol Symphony Orchestra, NBC Symphony Orchestra
Klassiek - Released by Infinity on 7 dec. 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ponchielli: Danse des heures, extrait de La Gioconda (Mono Version)
Arturo Toscanini, NBC Symphony Orchestra
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1953
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake Highlights - Beethoven - Mozart - Johann Strauss II
Klassiek - Released by Signum-Cala on 26 apr. 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Paul Dukas: L'apprenti sorcier - Smetana: Vltava - Saint-Saëns: Danse macabre (Mono Version)
NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1957
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 - Liszt: Three Hungarian Rhapsodies
Klassiek - Released by Signum-Cala on 26 apr. 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo