Pierre Monteux - CD

Pierre Monteux conducts the LSO in classic recordings from 1959 and 1961, remastered and edited from stereo analogue tapes. In 1911 he was invited by Diaghilev to conduct his Ballet Russes and he led the premieres of 'Daphnis and Chloé', Debussy's 'Jeux', 'Petrushka' and the 'Rite of Spring', the last of which caused a notorious riot.

He became the musical director of the London Symphony Orchestra in 1961, at the age of 86, and had one of the longest musical careers exceeded perhaps only by Stokowski and Casals.

In 1831 Berlioz extended modern orchestral art with this 'Symphonie Fantastique' which served as a programme model for Mahler and Wagner and later for Debussy's 'La Mer'. Of the 118 recordings since 1930 the models which inspire most are still those of Pierre Monteux and Charles Munch (pace Jean Roy).

The American soprano Eleonor Steber recorded 'Nuits d'été' in 1953 with the blazing support of Mitropoulos and the New York Philharmonic, the most possessed and convincing version of this masterpiece ever played.

1953 Columbia US [Op. 7], October 1958 [Op. 14]

This generous disc brings together all of Pierre Monteux’s Debussy recordings for Decca and Philips. Encompassing some of Debussy’s major orchestral works, these performances have a fluidity and atmosphere about them in recordings that have worn their years lightly. Monteux omits ‘Sirènes’ in his recording of the Nocturnes – a practice not atypical of recordings of the work in the 1950s and 1960s.

Pierre Monteux often bemoaned the fact that he was associated with the French and Russian repertoires, to the exclusion of music from outside of those traditions. He could hardly help it; after all, it was Monteux who conducted the first and famously chaotic performance of Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du printemps in 1913. Nevertheless, he recorded all of Beethoven’s symphonies (some of them more than once) and all of Brahms’s, with the exception of the Fourth. He made only one recording of Sibelius’s Second. This came late in his career, in 1959, and was the only commercial recording he made of this composer’s music. Monteux conducts the score with evident affection, and with a lush romanticism that suggests the Mediterranean more than the cold waters of the Baltic Sea.

Receiving its first international release on CD is Lorin Maazel’s recording of the Karelia Suite, made around the same time as his Vienna Philharmonic Sibelius cycle. Together with Monteux’s Sibelius Second, it is one of the most-requested reissues from the Decca catalogue.

The two performances in this disc were given with Charles Munch in 1961 (in No.4) and Pierre Monteux (in No. 5) in 1960, both with the Boston Symphony. Both performances demonstrate collaborative assurance.

Two beloved Romantic orchestral works in stellar performances, return to the catalogue in beautiful transfers. Pierre Monteux (1875-1964) often bemoaned the fact that he was associated with the French and Russian repertoires, to the exclusion of music from outside of those traditions. He could hardly help it; after all, it was Monteux who conducted the first and famously chaotic performance of Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du printemps in 1913. Nevertheless, he recorded all of Beethoven’s symphonies (some of them more than once) and all of Brahms’s, with the exception of the Fourth. He made only one recording of Elgar’s Enigma Variations, and one of the Dvořák Seventh. These came late in his career – 1958 and 1959, respectively – and were the only recordings he made of works by their respective composers. Elgar’s work frequently appeared in the conductor’s concert programs during this ‘Indian summer’. In fact, his last American concerts, in December 1963 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, featured the Enigma Variations, along with works by Vaughan Williams, Beethoven and Sibelius. In his recording of Dvořák’s Seventh, Monteux is clearly responsive to the symphony’s connections with Brahms – a composer for whom he had special affection.

No composer wrote better for wind instruments than Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and it is our good fortune that most of his output in this sphere has survived to delight us. Many of these recordings feature legendary soloists and conductors with the London Symphony Orchestra. The Belgian player Henri Helaerts (1907–2001) was principal of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande for almost half a century (1929–77) and made many recordings, usually with Ernest Ansermet conducting. On this occasion he was imported to London for sessions on 9–10 August 1954. Anthony Collins conducted. A month earlier, on 13–14 July, conductor and orchestra collaborated with the young British virtuoso Gervase de Peyer (b.1926) in the Clarinet Concerto. The performance of the Flute Concerto comes from a famous LP on which the American flautist Claude Monteux (b.1920) collaborated with his father, the French violist and conductor Pierre Monteux (1875–1964). The sessions, produced by that distinguished Mozartian Christopher Raeburn and engineered by the legendary Kenneth Wilkinson, took place in Decca’s West Hampstead Studios in November 1963. Our brief horn recording was part of an LP of all the Mozart Horn Concertos, made by the famous Australian-born LSO principal Barry Tuckwell (b.1931). The sessions were held at Kingsway Hall in November 1959 and April 1961 – the E major Fragment came from the latter set – and the stereo tapes were engineered by Kenneth Wilkinson.

The recordings of both the Bassoon and Clarinet Concertos make their first appearance on CD and the fascinating documentation for the CD is provided by Tully Potter.

In 1961, at age 86, Pierre Monteux was appointed chief conductor with the London Symphony Orchestra on a 25-year contract. It was typical of his sense of humour that he chose to sign a contract of such length at this time in his life, but there is no doubt that the brief period he enjoyed with the LSO – he died three years later, in 1964 – was one of the most remarkable Indian summers enjoyed by any conductor.

Here reissued are absolute classics of the recorded oeuvre, in absolutely sublime sound and with a real degree of punch that informed the “Decca” sound of the 1950s-70s. For all the historically-informed, so called ‘authentic’ recordings of Haydn, the Monteux/Wiener Philharmoniker synthesis is one of absolute magic. And deeply felt, expertly paced, are the Brahms Haydn Variations.

Recording producers: John Culshaw (Haydn); James Walker (Brahms)

Recording engineers: James Brown (Haydn); Cyril Windebank (Brahms)

Recording locations: Sofiensaal, Vienna, Austria, April 1959 (Haydn); Kingsway Hall, London, December 1958 (Brahms)