TOSCANINI COLLECTION VOL 58 -

One of the century's legendary achievements on record confirms its reputation on this wellmanaged reissue. Here Toscanini's blazing intensity, his full comprehension of every facet of the score are evident throughout. In the very first scene the crackling of the fire in "Fuoco di gioia", the bubbling strings as illustration of Cassio getting drunk, the complete fidelity to the score of Valdengo's Iago tell of long preparation and immediately excite the ear. They are but harbingers of the legendary maestro's total command and of his wholehearted empathy with the opera's faultless structure and deep-felt emotions, all achieved within correct tempos and with an overview of the acts, each of which courses tautly to its inevitable conclusion. Just one little detail—the stab of pain in the orchestra at Otello's first thought of jealousy, before "Perche fai tale inchiesti"—shows just how intimately Toscanini knows his music; that and so much else left uncovered by other conductors sets him fa