Symphony 4 & 5 Toscanini

SYMPHONY No. 4 - the idea that Beethoven's "even-numbered" can in any way be automatically regarded as of a more docile nature than his "odd-numbered" symphonies was never more strongly dispelled by Toscanini than in the slow introduction to this Fourth Symphony. The sinisterly dramatic, mysteries atmosphere of this whole remarkable passage was created not by any exaggeration of what Beethoven wrote but, on the contrary, by Toscanini's strictest possible, literal observance of note-values, and an unvarying rhythm in a slow, dead-right tempo. SYMPHONY No. 5 - Toscanini's belief in the importance of tempo was never more clearly proclaimed than in this first movement of the Fifth. Drama there was in plenty; but it was not a melodramatic performance. There emerged a tremendous ferocity and force, which drove the music relentlessly, irresistibly forward with all the vitality and excitement Toscanini understood by the term "con brio".