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Title: A passionate recording with the unique Toscanini stamp
Review: Doubtless, the ninth remains one of the best musical pieces of all time and, alas, one of the least performed in public. Indeed, such live performances were, and still are, so infrequent that George Bernard Shaw deemed them "extraordinary events separated by years". It may be that it is difficult and technically demanding (but then all Beethoven music is), but it is most likely because it's so passionate and emotionally demanding. You must have abundant personal and professional attributes to conduct a magnun opus the size of Choral Symphony and Arturo Toscanini has them both at his best in this 1952 recording. Although he was 85 years old at that time, he vigorously projects beauty, warmth and youth aplenty. It is a magnificent recording, one you cannot listen to and feel the same afterwards.
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