The Live Pierre Monteux, conductor

[Lance]

I am taking some time to survey the West Hills Radio Archive [WHRA] 11-CD set of performances given between 1958 and 1959, all previously unreleased digital restorations. Today, Pierre Monteux still remains one of my most favoured conductors (among many, of course). Listening to live performances of Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 1 in G Minor with Rudolf Serkin (along with his Introduction and Allegro Appassionato) was like being there. The concerto is a virtuoso masterpiece, and one well known as played by Serkin. While there are a few flubs by Serkin, it's a stunning performance with Monteux with him all the way. While the set is not for sale in the USA due to contractual reasons with the Boston Symphony, it can be found, priced at 11 CDs for the 7.

Other music is Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor with Leon Fleisher, Brahms' Violin Concerto with Isaac Stern, and another one with Leonid Kogan. Berl Senofsky appears in the Beethoven Violin Concerto. Orchestral music involved is Beethoven (Symphonies 5, 6 and overtures), Beethoven-Weingartner, Strauss, Ravel, Debussy, D'Indy, Bach-Respighi, Glinka, Milhaud, Stravinsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Wagner (including with soprano Margaret Harshaw) plus many orchestral excerpts, Tchaikovsky (Symphony No. 5), Brahms-Thomson, and others. In my opinion, a fabulously restored set that hopefully will see a Volume 2 one day. (The American branch of WHRA is Music & Arts, who also has much Monteux in live performance and worth a look.)

So, if you want to spend some time with the extraordinary Boston Symphony Orchestra in its heyday, you will enjoy this set and the remarkable work of Pierre Monteux! •

[maestrob]

Hello, Lance. Could you possibly provide us with a link to where we can buy this box? Thanks.

[Lance]

Brian, Amazon/USA shows having three copies available at $110/Prime + tax. That's about what I paid for the set, which is still a bargain considering the content and quality of music-making. West Hill Radio Archive appears on the Presto site, but the Monteux set is not included, unfortunately.

Hello, Lance. Could you possibly provide us with a link to where we can buy this box? Thanks.

[maestrob]

Thank-you, Lance! That's not much of a bargain. Even so, I'll be streaming them soon, and all in stereo, which is a plus I didn't expect.

[Donald Isler]

Monteux was also a favorite of our friend, Ross Parmenter, who was Music Editor of the NY Times in the 1950's and early 60's.

[maestrob]

Monteux was also a favorite of our friend, Ross Parmenter, who was Music Editor of the NY Times in the 1950's and early 60's.

Goodness, Ross Parmenter!

Here's the Times obit from 1999, for those who don't remember him:

https://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/22/arts ... exico.html

[maestrob]

Hello, Lance!

Am just starting to listen to these remarkable live recordings today. They are very well restored, considering that the tapes have been laying in somebody's vault for 70 years. It's a real plus to have stereo sound from 1958 for radio broadcast concerts, considering that stereo FM broadcasting was not actually authorized by the FCC until 1961.

So far, I've heard about an hour of music, and Monteux is getting truly fine playing from the Boston Symphony in Tod und Verklarung right now through my headphones. His is an energetic interpretation, with precision and passionate playing, a bit faster than I'm used to, but extremely effective.

Thanks so much for recommending this excellent box, all of which has been generously made available for streaming on amazon.

My only caveat is that there are occasional minor dropouts, and, for some reason, the applause at the end of selections has so far been edited out. A real find!

[maestrob]

Haven't forgotten about these, and am currently listening to a magnificent performance of the Brahms Violin Concerto with Leonid Kogan, a work he recorded for EMI in first-rate stereo in 1959, one of that label's first stereo studio records.

Monteux's live performance has already been released before on a single CD just a few years ago (see below), but that disc, while available to be streamed on amazon, has quickly gone OOP. Monteux draws wonderfully sensitive and disciplined playing from the Boston Symphony and Kogan is, of course, a master interpreter. Nowhere near as publicized as much as his compatriots of the period, Heifetz and Oistrakh, Kogan excels in both tone quality and commitment to Brahms's vision to the same degree. This performance is indeed a treasure.



Before the Brahms, I just heard a stunning 1959 Don Juan, electrifying in its intensity, recorded in even better, crisper sound with more depth. It would appear that Boston upgraded their equipment for that second season recorded in stereo, and the results, so beautifully restored and preserved here, are well worth the expense and effort.

In spite of the price, I am warming to this release more and more.

[Lance]

When we can hear musicmaking from a true master like Monteux, live or otherwise, it is beyond rewarding. I know personally some conductors who worked with Monteux in Hancock, Maine and Boston and to this day they still have the highest praise for Monteux. In reality based on his recordings and broadcasts especially with the BSO, with whom he had long experience, he would rate as among the finest of all their conductors. (I still have fond memories of Koussevitzky as well.)

[maestrob]

Pierre Monteux is a conductor I respect immensely. Unfortunately, his best years happened before modern recording techniques were perfected, thus not much of his output can be fully appreciated. Also, he was, like Toscanini, not a fan of the recording process, preferring the spontaneity of the concert hall. The live concerts in this box must be appreciated in that light.

Monteux's style is crisp and clean in these recordings, with no lingering on eighth notes at the end of phrases. He thus produced a very different atmosphere than, say, Ormandy (who was also a violinist), whose Philadelphia strings were more relaxed and lush. He had a magnificent sense of discipline: entrances are quite tight and crystal-clear, while the bowings in the strings (Monteux played both the violin and viola) produce a unified and robust sound. Every detail is carefully managed, yet there is a warmth and spontaneity to the playing which shows that Monteux firmly believed that a conductor should never interfere with an orchestra when it is playing well, a philosophy he later taught to his many famous conducting students.

I could go on and on about Monteux here, but for now I'll just say that his life was a magnificent contribution to the world of music.

Of course everyone reading this knows that Monteux was famously chosen by Diaghilev to conduct the premiere of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, and the famous riot that ensued. Monteux, undisturbed by the noise behind him, simply concentrated on the music and kept conducting. Here's what Wikipedia says about that event, including a quote from Stravinsky himself:

The dress rehearsal, with Debussy, Ravel, other musicians and critics among those present, passed without incident.

However, the following evening the premiere provoked something approaching a riot, with loud verbal abuse of the work, counter-shouts from supporters, and fisticuffs breaking out.[48] Monteux pressed on, continuing to conduct the orchestra regardless of the turmoil behind him.[48] Stravinsky wrote "The image of Monteux's back is more vivid in my mind today than the picture of the stage. He stood there apparently impervious and as nerveless as a crocodile. It is still incredible to me that he actually brought the orchestra through to the end."[49] The extensive press coverage of the incident made Monteux "at age thirty-eight, truly a famous conductor".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Monteux