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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Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5 - Richard Wagner: Parsifal, Prelude
Arturo Toscanini, NBC Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra
Sinfonías - Editado por Praga Digitals el 1/08/2016
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
BRAHMS: PIANO CONCERTO No. 2 (REHEARSAL) (Remaster)
Arturo Toscanini, NBC Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Horowitz
Clásica - Editado por Nar Classical el 29/01/2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
VERDI: AIDA Ouverture & WAGNER: DER FLIEGENDE HÖLLANDER Ouverture
Arturo Toscanini, NBC Symphony Orchestra
Clásica - Editado por Nar Classical el 15/01/2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Best of Horowitz on the Piano, vol. 3
Vladimir Horowitz, Arturo Toscanini, NBC Symphony Orchestra
Clásica - Editado por Infinity el 12/12/2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Borodin: Symphony No. 2 in B Minor — Conducted by Carlos Kleiber (Recordedd in 1972) and Erich Kleiber [Recorded 1947]
Carlos Kleiber, Erich Kleiber, Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, NBC Symphony Orchestra
Clásica - Editado por SWR Classic el 1/01/2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sibelius: Symphony No. 1 in E Minor & Symphony No. 2 in D Major
NBC Symphony Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski's Symphony Orchestra
Clásica - Editado por Signum-Cala el 26/04/2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
BEETHOVEN / BRAHMS: Violin Concertos (Heifetz) (1939-1940)
Jascha Heifetz, NBC Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini, Serge Koussevitzky
Clásica - Editado por Naxos el 11/06/2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Richard Wagner: Orchestral Works (Live) [Remastered 2022]
NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini
Clásica - Editado por Archipel el 2/12/2022
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
The Complete Solo Recordings
Harold Samuel, APR Recordings, Isolde Menges, Frank Black, NBC Symphony Orchestra
Clásica - Editado por APR el 15/10/2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 36, TH 27 (Live) [Remastered 2022]
NBC Symphony Orchestra, Guido Cantelli
Clásica - Editado por Archipel el 3/02/2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven, L. Van: Symphonies Nos. 3 and 5 (Nbc Symphony / Toscanini) (1945)
NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini
Clásica - Editado por Music and Arts Programs of America el 1/04/2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concertos
Walter Schneiderhan, NBC Symphony Orchestra, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Arturo Toscanini, Jascha Horenstein
Clásica - Editado por Archipel el 19/11/2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Russian Masterworks: Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky & Prokofiev
NBC Symphony Orchestra, Léopold Stokowski
Clásica - Editado por Signum-Cala el 26/04/2019
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
Clásica - Editado por Music and Arts Programs of America el 1/11/2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: 9 Symphonies
Clásica - Editado por Andromeda el 1/07/2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Elgar from America, Vol. 2
Clásica - Editado por SOMM Recordings el 21/08/2020
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
BRAHMS / TCHAIKOVSKY: Piano Concertos (Horowitz) (1940-1941)
Vladimir Horowitz, NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini
Conciertos para tecla - Editado por Naxos el 18/04/2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grosse Pianisten - Vladimir Horowitz
NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini, Vladimir Horowitz
Clásica - Editado por Dokuments el 16/02/2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Orchestral Works (Live)
NBC Symphony Orchestra, Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra, Bruno Walter
Clásica - Editado por Archipel el 1/04/2022
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: Selection from Concerto No. 12
Clásica - Editado por LRC Ltd. - Groove Merchant Records el 21/05/2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: Faust Overture - Siegfried Idyll - Mahler: Symphony No. 1 (1939)
NBC Symphony Orchestra, Bruno Walter, Audience
Clásica - Editado por Music and Arts Programs of America el 1/01/2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo