THE ART OF GUlDO CANTELLI

New York Concerts and Broadcasts, 1949-1952

CD1 ROSSINI: Overture to The Siege of Corinth NBC Symphony Orchestra 1/1/1951 BARTÓK: Concerto for Orchestra 1/1/1951, SCHUBERT: Symphony No. 2 8/1/1951

CD2 MOZART: Nozze di Figaro Overture, K.492 1/12/1951 MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 4 Op. 90 (Italian) 1/12/1951 RAVEL: Pavane Pour Une Infante Défunte 1/12/1951, RAVEL: La Valse NBCSO 1/12/1951 BERLIOZ: Marche Hongroise 15/12/1951

CD3 BRAHMS: Symphony No. 3 in F Major, Op. 90 15/12/1951 BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92 14/1/1950

CD4 HAYDN: Symphony No. 94 in G Major (Surprise) 31/12/1949 BRAHMS: Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, Op 68 6/12/1952

CD5 MOZART: Symphony No. 29 in A Major, K. 201 13/12/1952 BARTÓK: Music For Strings, Percussion and Celesta Leonid Hambro (piano); John LaMontaine (celesta); Karl Glassman and William Dawn (percussion); 13/12/1952 GIOVANNI GABRIELI: Canzona for Double Brass Ouartet

16/2/1952 MONTEVERDI: Vespro della Beata Vergine: Sonata sopre Santa Maria ora pro nobis 16/2/1952

CD6 HAYDN: Symphony No. 88 in G Major 20/12/l952 STRAVINSKY: Jeu de Cartes, Ballet en troi donnes 20/12/1952, RAVEL: Bolero 20/12/1952 ROUSSEL: Sinfonietta For Strings, Op. 52, 15/12/l951

CD7 VIVALDI: Concerto Grosso in A Major 2/2/1952 TCHAlKOVSKY: Overture Roméo and Juliet 2/2/1952 GHEDINI: Pezzo Concertante Mischa Mischakoff & Max Hollander (violin); CarltonCooley (viola) 2/2/1952 VERDI: La Forza Del Destino Overture 2/2/1952 ROSSINI: Semiramide Overture New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra 27/1/1952

CD8 TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 4, NBCSO 24/12/1949 MOUSSORGSKY/RAVEL: Tableaux D'Une Exposition NYPSO 27/1/1952

CD9 FRESCOBALDI/ GHEDINI: Four Pieces NYPSO 6/1/1952 MONTEVERDI/GHEDINI: Vespro della Beata Vergine WestminsterChoir/John Finley Williamson; Edouard Nies-Berger (organ); NYPSO 6/1/1952 BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 5, Op.67 NYPSO 6/1/1952

CD10 SHULMAN: A Laurentian Overture (1951) NYPSO 20/1/1952 DVORÁK: Piano Concerto in G Minor, Op.33 Rudolf Firkusny (piano); NYPSO 20/1/1952 HINDEMITH: Mathis Der Maler NYPSO

CD11 WEBER: Euryanthe Overtre NBCSO 29/11/1952, VIVALDI: Concerto Grosso, Op. 3 No. 8 Mischa Mischakoff, Max Hollander (violins); Sylvia Marlowe (harpsichord); NBCSO 15/1/1951 BRAHMS: Tragic Overture, Op. 81 NBCSO 15/1/1951 DEBUSSY: Le Martyre de St. Sebastien (Fragments symphonique) NBCSO 15/1/1951 STRAVINSKY: Fireworks NBCSO 15/1/1951

CD12 TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No. 5, Op. 64 NBCSO 1/3/1952 SCHUMANN: Symphony No. 4, Op. 120 NBCSO 29/11/1952

In January 1949 Guido Cantelli, a 28-year-old Italian conductor, made his American debut with the NBC Symphony. He had come to America on the personal recommendation of Arturo Toscanini. However the Toscanini era, already sixty-three years on, was drawing to its inevitable final cadence. Cantelli's style was, in many ways, strikingly similar to his illustrious sponsor's, Cantelli, however, was no mere clone and though he obviously idolised Toscanini, he gave evidence of being a strong-willed interpreter; very much his own man. Furthermore, Cantelli's programming from the start displayed an adventurousness not to be found in Toscanini's broadcasts of his later years. The brilliance and virtuosity of Cantelli's first broadcasts caused the youthful maestro's fame and career to spread like wildfire and it was in the autumn of 1950 that Cantelli, touring Edinburgh and London with the Orchestra della Scala took England by storm. His now-legendary performance of Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte marked the opening of the Piccola Scala in 1956 and on November 17 he was designated La Scala's first-ever Permanent Conductor (not even Toscanini or De Sabata held that title officially). He planned to open his tenure with a new production of Verdi's Otello but on November 24, 1956, music lovers awoke to the devastating news that the Italian DC6-B airliner with Cantelli aboard had crashed on take-off at Orly the night before. For all too many today, Guido Cantelli is best known as a resident of the 'historical' bins at classical record emporiums. These wonderful concert performances serve to remind us of this incandescent young maestro's fleeting, ubiquitous importance in musical annals during those few wonderful seasons before a grim twist of fate abruptly transformed a superstar into a meteor.

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