Toscanini in Britain

During the 1930s Arturo Toscanini conducted many concerts broadcast by the BBC from London's Queen's Hall, where he also made some unsurpassed recordings. Drawing on new material in British and American archives, including the BBC and EMI, the author reveals how the most renowned and influential conductor of the twentieth century, notoriously microphone-shy though he was, came to conduct so frequently in London, a tale replete with unexpected twists, turns and ingenious stratagems. Toscanini's dominating influence on London critics and audiences in the period covered by the narrative, extending through to his final appearances at the Royal Festival Hall in 1952, is copiously documented from contemporary sources. The author also presents fresh evidence demonstrating how the remarkable combination of passionate conviction and architectural mastery that characterised Toscanini's conducting was grounded not only in his constant study of the score but also in his awareness of traditions of interpretation stretching back to the mid-19th century. This book will be required reading for those with a particular enthusiasm for Toscanini's recorded performances and for anyone with an interest in the history of conducting, recording and the London concert scene in the first half of the twentieth century. CHRISTOPHER DYMENT has written extensively about historic conductors since the 1970s, particularly Felix Weingartner and Arturo Toscanini. His first book, on Weingartner, was published in 1976.

Harvey Sachs, author of Toscanini (1978) and editor/translator of The Letters of Arturo Toscanini (2002)