Sir John Barbirolli – The Complete Rca And Columbia Album Collection (6CDs, Sony)

The young John Barbirolli was hardly known in America when the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra chose him to be Arturo Toscaninis successor starting in 1937. The 36-year-old Londoners first season was a triumph with both players and audiences, and although his years in New York would be increasingly marred by unfair rivalry with Toscanini – lured back to lead a specially created NBC Symphony – and by partisan hostility from two influential critics, Barbirollis tenure can now be looked back on as a real success. From 1938 until 1943, when he returned to the UK to take over Manchesters Hall Orchestra, Sir John made a series of recordings in New York for American Columbia and RCA Victor which are still essential for a full appreciation of this revered conductors career, quot;performances that are as competitive today as they were when initially releasedquot; (Fanfare). Sony Classical is pleased to reissue them in a newly remastered six-album set.