Dame Myra Hess & Arturo Toscanini: Beethoven Piano Concerto No.3 (pitch-corrected)

Pitch-corrected from previous upload:

A November 24, 1946 concert broadcast performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.3 featuring Dame Myra Hess as soloist with Arturo Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra.

Hess had originally been engaged to play Beethoven's Emperor Concerto but found the conductor's tempi at the first rehearsal two days before the concert were so quick that she discreetly suggested that they play the C Minor Concerto instead ("everyone plays the Emperor...", she told him). Despite the program having already been announced, he agreed - and while his tempi are brisk here too, it was much more manageable for the soloist.

At the second rehearsal, Toscanini - conducting from memory - brought the orchestra in four measures too early after the piano's solo introduction in the slow movement. Hess wasn't sure how to broach the subject with the fiery maestro but was her usual charming self. The melody played by the piano in two of the measures accidentally cut by Toscanini is very similar to a song sung by the title character in Gounod's 'Faust', so she asked the conductor in a sweet tone of voice, 'Maestro, when we play tomorrow night you will let me sing my 'Salve! Dimora caste e pura, won't you?' The conductor looked stunned and then burst out laughing ... but then went into a nervous state as he realized his error and how he did not meet his own standards ("I say terrible things about other conductors but I cannot conduct myself!").

During the concert itself, Toscanini adopted Hess's tempo for this movement, slower than the one in his performance 2 years earlier with Arthur Rubinstein - a true sign of the esteem in which he held Dame Hess.

The performance is indeed a marvellous one, with the propulsion we expect from Toscanini but also the unique combination of warmth and power that Hess brought to her interpretations. The scope of her dynamic range and luminosity of her tone are appreciable despite the acoustic limitations of the infamous Studio 8H where the concert took place, and her rhythmic vitality and attentive phrasing are magnificent.

A truly historic collaboration!

The commercial CD of this performance was pitched a semi-tone sharp; this recording has been pitch-adjusted for this upload.

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