Toscanini Puccini La Boheme NBC Symphony Vinyl VICS-6019 2-LP Record Box Set VG+

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Toscanini Puccini La Boheme NBC Symphony Vinyl VICS-6019 2-LP Record Box Set VG+
Record Grade per Goldmine Standard: VG+
Puccini, Arturo Toscanini, Licia Albanese, Jan Peerce, NBC Symphony Orchestra – La Bohème (Complete)
Rodolfo, a poet..................JanPeerce, tenor Mimi, a maker of artificial flowers . . Licia Albanese, soprano Marcello, a painter..............Francesco Valentino, baritone Musetta........................Anne McKnight, soprano Colline, a philosopher............Nicola Moscona, bass Schaunard, a musician...........George Cehanovsky, baritone Benoit, a landlord A z.....Salvatore Baccaloni, bass Alcindoro, a state councilor ' Students, working girls, citizens, shopkeepers, street vendors, soldiers, hoys and girls Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra Peter J. Wilhousky, chorus director Edoardo Petri, boys chorus director Complete recording of the broadcast performances of February 3 and 10,1946 The action takes place in Paris in the mid-19th century ACT I The orchestral introduction is not a lengthy one - ’ bars long, but it does set a mood or, at least, something^ 18 Only 39 mood, with its solid opening chords in the lower registers a trusting, softly intoned measures above that follow .^A rlwth • e COn* immediately announced, has a holiday of it throughout the first/*gUre’ Rodolfo and Marcello, two of a quartet of genial, poverty-stri k hopeful Bohemians, are in Marcello’s garret. It is a cheerless Ch yet Eve in the room, for the stove has long been without fuel. The two1^38 gling artists are complaining about the cold. Marcello, at worV^^ painting titled The Passage of the Red Sea, says his hands are so chill that they might have been “touching the iceberg that is the heart f Musetta,” his love. When Rodolfo remarks on the consuming appetite °f love, Marcello, more realistic, bewails the lack of food in the house Sul denly Rodolfo decides to use as fuel the paper on which he has written a five-act tragedy. This decision comes only after he has dissuaded Mar- cello, rather forcibly, from burning one of the few chairs in the place The manuscript is quickly shorn of its first act, which is tossed into the hearth and lighted. Presently the door opens and in strides Colline, the philosopher mem- ber of the quartet. Coming from the outside, he is even colder than the rest and is only too happy to join them at the stove, though the first act gives only a meager warmth. Rodolfo throws Act II of his drama onto the fire, then the next three. Two boys come in laden with food, wine, cigars and, even more grati- fying, wood for fuel. Puccini’s music becomes lively in 6/8 tempo to parallel the joy of the Bohemians. The provisions are placed on the table, the wood into the stove, and in the midst of this activity Schau- nard, the musician member of the quartet, makes a rather grand en- trance. He would like to tell how he came by his good fortune, but the engrossing concern of the others for their creature comforts prevents them from paying attention to him. Though their inattention rankles, Schaunard plays the good fellow. He berates them for their gluttony and announces that this food is to be saved for darker days ahead. Be- sides, one does not dine at home on Christmas Eve. One may drink there, but one dines out. At the height of their joy the Bohemians are surprised by the arrival of Benoit, who has come for his rent. The situation calls for quick thinking, anc in matters of this kind Marcello is most gifted. He plies Benoit with wine and encourages conversation. The others fall in with the plan and , e lay ^en°it into admitting an amorous escapade. They pretend to be Horrified at what they hear, and while the half-tipsy Benoit is himself astonished at what goes on, he is pushed, none too gently, out the door. C-X miemians are elated with their success. Schaunard mentions the sall3 f °n and t0Sether with Marcello and Colline he prepares to wiliyin?n h Rodolfo’ ^plaining that he has an article to finish, says he will join them there later. his pen^n^a^0 wr^nS, but inspiration lags and he flings down wind has blown^n t i lere *S a knock at the door. It is Mimi; the ill to Rodolfo nnV i er caudle- Tlle poet invites her to come in. She looks self, “What n imLi 16 ?iaJ<es her sit beside the fire, remarking to him- she asks Rodolfo tnV8?* When Mimi has rested for a few minutes, the door, where Mi™'gv her candle> which he does. He escorts her to talk, the wind acain u/ lscovers tliat she has lost her key. While they surreptitiously blows nn+'l -°Ut ^er candle > trying to relight it Rodolfo table and begin to search th*8 ^^ey both put their candles on the hides it in his pocket n fl°°r for key ; Rodolfo finds it and ley &rope in the dark, Rodolfo pretending



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