Toscanini

One of the most acclaimed musicians of his era, Toscanini was a conductor of the "old school" - aristocratic, perfectionistic and something of an autocrat on the podium. After a brief flurry of interest in Fascism in the 1910s, he rapidly became disillusioned with the movement and indeed became a personal rival of Mussolini, repeatedly antagonising him through acts of artistic defiance such as refusals to open concerts with the Fascist anthem Giovinezza.

La Locandiera (Vienna, 1773) was a significantly successful Salieri's opera during the 1770's but declined and disappeared by the end of the 18th century. We have to acknowledge in this opera a composer with a balanced approach between libretto and music, but who uses a simple scoring as compared with a similar age Mozart. The libretto by Carlo Goldoni, has moral overtones denouncing the arrogance of the nobility against the emergence of the bourgeoise class, and the female hipocrisy.

Back by popular demand, The Toscanini Collection is a reissue of RCA's 1992 compendium that encompassed all of the recordings Toscanini made with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and NBC Symphony. A new addition to this amazing collection is his approved recordings with the BBC Symphony from the 1930s that were not included in the 1992 edition. This limited-edition package is the complete RCA Toscanini Collection on 84 CDs plus a bonus DVD, "The Maestro."