TOSCANINI COLLECTION VOL 35 -

Toscanini took up Ravel's orchestration of Pictures at an Exhibition very soon after it became generally available, and it remained in his repertoire until the end of his career. He clearly relished the work's virtuosity and colour, rather more, I think, than its evocative, dramatic qualities. His performance is very brilliant, quite extrovert in fact, but a little lacking in strong characterization. Even such a characterful piece as ''The Hut on Fowl's Legs'' is given a very straight, four-square emphatic reading, and only ''Catacombe'' conveys a vivid sense of atmosphere. I think a better recording would have conveyed a more favourable impression, but the sound is pinched and shallow. Toscanini's interpretation of the Enigma Variations remains as controversial to traditional Elgarians as when he first conducted the work in London during 1930 (it had been in his repertoire since 1905). It was imaginative of RCA to partner the Mussorgsky Pictures with Elgar's ''friends pictured withi