Deryk Barker wrote:

>...Toscanini decided that *he* should premiere this work (the Leningrad)
>... by a young anti-fascist composer."

It was actually David Sarnoff, the head of NBC and the creator cf the
Toscanini-led NBC Orchestra, who pulled the strings for the orchestra to
premiere the work.  If it can be said the "Leningrad" was a propaganda
piece, well so was Sarnoff's creation to some degree: a world class
symphony orchestra, playing the great German repertoire but led by a
stellar non- German anti-fascist.  What was Toscanini supposed to do,
disobey his boss and in a politically correct venture? In fact, the record
shows where Toscanini did make artistic decisions at NBC, they were
frequently overridden by Sarnoff and others.  Toscanini privately is said
to have seen small merit in the "Leningrad." William Carboni, a member of
the orchestra, in a reminiscence of the conductor, wrote "Just before the
Old Man died his son was playing records for him, and one of things he
played was the Shostakovich Seventh.  The Old Man asked what it was; and
when Walter (his son) told him, he said: 'Did I play that?' Walter said
yes, and the Old Man said: 'I must have been crazy.'"

My original point was not to make a case for a great symphony, but to
question why one symphony in the repertoire, above all others, is still
deserving of so much critical abuse.

John Dalmas
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