Customer Reviews

Great Conductors of the 20th Century ~ Charles Munch

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It's sad that the "Great Conductors of the 20th Century" reissue series has not gotten more notice on Amazon.com and in other places, because it has my vote for the best reissue program thus far of the 21st Century. Drawing from the archives of all the major classical labels (EMI, Sony, BMG, DG, Decca, Philips, Supraphon, etc.), EMI and IMG Artists have assembled a wonderful series of affordable two-disc sets by the leading conductors of the last century. And unlike its counterpart, "The Great Pianists of the 20th Century," which are basically compilations of material already available on other CDs, the "Great Conductors" features rare and, for the most part, previously unreleased performances!

This particular CD, Volume 22, features the great Charles Munch, who led the Boston Symphony Orchestra during the golden age of stereo recordings. As the track information is not abundantly clear above, allow me to mention that these discs feature memorable performances of Beethoven's 9th (with Leontyne Price and Maureen Forrester!), Mendelssohn's Octet, Martinu's Symphony No. 6, and Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet Suites all with the BSO from between 1956 and 1960. A late recording of Bizet's Symphony in C from 1966 (2 years before Munch's death) is with the Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Francaise, and the set's only mono performances are Berlioz's Overture "Le Corsaire" from 1948 and Saint-Saens "La Princesse jaune: Overture" from 1951. Whether in stereo or mono, these performances are all golden.

Whether you are a serious collector of classical music or a beginner, the "Great Conductors of the 20th Century" has something for everyone. If the prized, rare performances previously unreleased on CD (or ever!) doesn't excite you, then use this as an opportunity to check out one of the greatest conductors ever recorded. Chances are, since stores are offering increasingly homogenized classical music sections, this conductor isn't even in your collection. And that would truly be a shame.

This set is worthwhile just to hear Munch conduct if you haven't. Moreover, it would be worth the price of admission just for the Beethoven No. 9.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra under Munch's baton was called, only half facetiously, the greatest French orchestra in the world. With the orchestra at its peak, and with first-rate soloists, Munch recorded the Beethoven 9 on three sides of a 2-LP RCA Red Seal release. Now it's on disc 1 of this set.

This long was my favorite recorded performance of the Beethoven No. 9--partly for its "French" qualities, most especially a gorgeous tone from the BSO. Munch coaxed a rich, mellow sound from the strings and winds that, in my opinion, was unmatched, and it serves this German composer's music very, very well. The CD captures the richness of the LP sound well.

Munch's tempos seem right on the money. The first movement has drive, and it expresses Beethoven's rage and fury when it should, but Munch avoided the break-neck pace of some recordings.

Some performances rush the scherzo movement and get a sort of galumphing effect. Munch's tempo here also has drive, but Munch finds an unusual elegance in the movement, and his players give the music that distinctive beautiful tone. It shows the music in a different light--maybe a new one, if you haven't heard this approach before. The rest of the performance is equally fine (and, again, there are those fine soloists in the last movement.)

So far as I know, this performance was never before issued on CD, and I always thought this was a shame. It's a very welcome addition to the catalog, and it remains my favorite recorded performance of the piece. (The 4th side of the Red Seal LPs had the Beethoven No. 8. Sadly, this performance still seems unavailable on CD.)

The rest of the set highlights French composers, which makes sense for this French conductor (though he was born in Alsace before World War I when it was still part of Germany). These performances also are fine and often quite beautiful.

Charles Munch and Beethoven? An unlikely combination of French conductor, and arguably Germany's greatest composer and his greatest composition! But this wonderful reading with stellar soloists (including a young Leontyne Price) and the New England Conservatory Choir under Lorna Cooke de Varon made at Boston's Symphony Hall in 1958 was one of my most treasured LP sets. Now it's been transferred to CD, and in spite of some significant gripes about the transfer to CD, this is one of those rare occasions when everything comes together: Conductor, Orchestra, Soloists, Chorus, and original Recording Production to produce a breathtaking musical statement.

In my opinion, this is one of the finest performances recorded of Beethoven's Ninth available, including Toscanini's! From the opening majestic Allegro (but not too much so), through the driving Molto Vivace (a theme once used for closing credits for NBC Nightly News... "Good Night, Chet. Good Night, David!"), on to the sweeping Adagio with a very sustained but understated rhythm, to the wonderous solo singing and choral finale, this recording excites by its cohesive yet dynamic structure and wonderfully preserved sonics. Albeit very marred by some overload, "puncher", or limiter distortion which is tragically, very evident on the louder passages.

Maybe it was his Alsace birthright, but Munch, remembered for his outstanding, and somewhat spontaneous interpretations of French music, applied an overview to Beethoven's masterpiece that knits the entire massive work into a performance that flows, overwhelms, and excites, but never seems overblown in theatrics. And it's all accomplished in less than 63 minutes! The "velvet gloved fingers of steel" of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) string section, inherited from Serge Koussevitsky, never cease to create intonations of a silken yet intense sound. I think the great master, Beethoven, whose name is emblazoned above on the Symphony Hall proscenium would have been very pleased indeed!

And just to add spice to this feast, there are some demonstrations of Munch's well deserved reputation for creating a unique ambience in French repertoire that has rarely been equaled by any other conductor. Albeit they are a mixed bag of mono and stereo recordings owing to the vintage of some of the performances.

We are treated to Bizet's youthful "Symphony in C" with the French National Radio Orchestra from 1966, Saint-Saens' "Overture to La Princesse jaune" with the BSO in one of Munch's earliest recordings with this ensemble from 1951, Berlioz's "Le Corsaire" overture in a performance of reckless abandon with the Orchestre de la Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire from 1948, Martinu's Symphony No. 6 written specifically for Munch to help celebrate the BSO's 75th anniversary, was premiered by this ensemble in January of 1955. Then a marked divergence into Prokofiev with extracts from "Romeo and Juliet" recorded with the BSO shortly after the conductor's first performance of this work from 1957. Whether intentional or not, this set also includes one of Munch's last recordings with the BSO, made in 1960: the "Scherzo" from Mendelssohn's "Octet". It's a pity not to hear the entire Octet performed by this ensemble. I guess we'll just have to settle for Toscanini's dated NBC reading for intensity of overall performance.

I earlier noted a major gripe concerning the transfer, however. Having executed similar transfers on old master tapes with similar issues, it's worth mentioning as a "caveat" to this set.

The original BSO recordings were probably made directly from strategically placed Neumann U47 microphones, through a tube mixer (with no added equalization - it's all they had in those days!), and recorded using tube-based Ampex 300 tape recorders onto 3 track 1/2-inch tape for the "Living Stereo - Orthophonic" release. I suspect a dub of the final 2 channel LP master is what was used for this CD release.

Hat's off to the original Production-Engineering team of Richard Mohr and Lewis Layton at RCA; they did a spectacular job with what they had to work with in the 1950's and 1960s', notwithstanding the wonderful acoustics of Boston's Symphony Hall!

The original raison d'etre for these tape recordings was transfer to consumer vinyl LP stereo discs, which inevitably have some high frequency losses due to transfer, manufacturing, and playback systems of the day. Thus, at the time of original releases, tape hiss was masked on the final LP discs along with correcting slight rise in the frequency response of the U47 microphones; nowadays referred to as a "presence" rise.

I suspect the recording team were well aware of these characteristics and worked diligently to make the master the tape recording in such a way as to compensate for these vinyl transfer issues. Certainly, this was a curious complementary effect of the recording and playback systems of 1958. Now there are simple software tools available to easily compensate for this situation, which restores the original acoustical sound by removal of this "presence" peak, gently reduce the steady background tape hiss, and possibly even "scrub" the overload distortion for CD release.

Alas, the re-issue engineers have seen fit to "tinker" much more heavy-handedly! Not with the overall frequency balance, but with the dynamics in the worst possible way! Critical listening points up "constricted" and distorted passages throughout all the transfers. They have evidently applied a now popular signal processing technique for "pop" recordings to create a "punchy" sound to the detriment of the original recordings. This is a true pity, and mars the wonderful effort of the originals to the point of creating grating and strident effects during loud passages of the music in both strings and chorus. At first, I suspected my own playback equipment. But on further critical examination of all the disc set contents, I discovered that all the various recordings, made at different times and by very different recording companies employing different recording techniques, suffered from the same wretched effects; distorting the true dynamics of the original masterpieces and influencing the final product with overuse of non-musical production tools.

All things considered, I guess 'tis better to have the recording, albeit in a marginal transfer. The re-mastering staff has indeed done service in providing these wonderful examples of great conductors of the 20th century with such landmark recorded performances. I only regret that they would learn to apply the vast array of post-production tools now available in minimal ways.

To paraphase award winning music producer and mastering engineer, Bob Katz (www.digido.com): As with fine food, a little seasoning can do much to improve the taste. But too much produces bland or bitter results, unworthy of a great repast! Sigh! Such tools need to be applied minimally and judiciously, so as not to spoil the fruit of so many peoples labors in generating the original recordings.

However, hat's are also off to this team of folks and their management for producing the entire series, albeit with some of their unnecessary, "heavy handed" post-production processing.

In spite of these aural flaws, if you love Beethoven, this one is a "must" for your collection! If you have never heard Munch conduct, then this is certainly a tantalizing introduction to him and some great repertoire.

I hate the "it's a matter of taste" line that I get from too many kiddies these days who are infected with the debilitating no standards/cultural relativism sickness. There is good stuff, and there's crap, and there's a lot of confusing gray-with-flecks in between. With Munch though that "taste" thing may be the case. My esteemed colleague below (Chopra fan) dislikes (some of) the loose-limbed approach of Munch and has little nice to say about this performance of the Ninth, which I love. His points are completely valid. So is my love of Munch. Here's what I think happened.

Munch walked into one of the best orchestras in the world and realized they could do anything and barely needed him; he also realized this was the ideal circumstance to take a freewheeling and spontaneous tack, take the leash off the show-dog so to say, and see what happened. What happened was a beautiful and riotous Choral Symphony that's my favorite too, a Schubert Ninth that, for the first time didn't sound like an Arthur Murray dance class or like it had a stick up its hootie (which it does, sorry Franz), a Franck D minor that finally came across like the masterpiece it is, and a box load of Berlioz that still stands alone...among many other things. So imagine a great symphony orchestra, trained to the most precise standards, getting tipsy and playing the pants off its favorites. Sloppy ensemble at times, sure, but boyo what a party--I didn't get home till 6 AM!

You'll find the same sort of hell-raising with Markevitch and the Lamoureux (where they often do sound stinking drunk) and with Silvestri (who is brilliant). No dignity. But should one have ones pants on when doing Rossini overtures, Scheherazade, the Fantastique, or even the all-holy Beethoven Ninth? I'd argue no siree!!

There are already many erudite, intelligent and passionate reviews published here of this CD set (including that of one dissenter re: the Beethoven), so I merely want to add my voice to those others here who says this recording of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is their all-time favorite. So it is for me. It had been years since I had listened to my record album with this recording; indeed, I my last record player was long gone. But I never found a CD of the Ninth that I liked as much as that old Boston Symphony recording. Now, it's available again and I discovered that it still held true for me: this is the most remarkable recording of that great symphony. The 3rd movement, for example, has a quality (in this recording) that I never found in others. The first two movements are muscular and exciting and the final movement is unforgettable. I get a rush of pleasure at certain points along the way that I never feel with any other recording.

I had the great good fortune to be a student in Boston during some of Munch's years with the BSO. He took what he inherited from Koussevitzky, maintained, and made it even better! His Beethoven 9th is absolutely my favorite recording of it. It should be avoided if you want ponderous profundity, but if you want humanity and life, this is the one you want. It is worth the price alone, but there is nothing wrong with the other pieces in the set, especially the Martinu symphony, which Munch and the BSO premiered. If you don't know Munch's work, this is a good place to start. But don't overlook the rest of his discography, especially the ground-breaking recordings of Berlioz.

The BSO was on shaky ground by the time Charles Munch retired in 1962. Koussevitzky's refined, viruosic ensemble had become ragged and under-rehearsed (it is famously told that on the first day Munch met the orchestra he curtailed rehearsal and invited everyone to come with him to play golf). Erratic hiring practices brought in players of less than first rank. Munch was beloved and an enrgetic, even inspired conductor when he wanted to be. But the BSO took more than a decade to recover from his slapdash discipline. He can be heard at his best and worst in this 2-CD set.

CD 1: The Saint-Saens La Princesse jaune overture (mono, 1951) is a charming rarity, played very well, but by the time we reach the Beethoven Ninth (stereo, 1958), the ensemble is rough and ready, the tempi all over the place, the solo trumpet sticks out like a sore thumb, the vocal quartet and chorus are hurtling along more or less on their own. I'm shocked that several reviewers here call this performance their favorite Ninth. It's a reckless, barely coherent reading to my ears. Munch rushes through it so quickly that there's still room on CD 1 for another overture, Le Corsaire from Berlioz in a zippy dash from 1948 with the Paris Conservatoire orchestra, a band more suited to Munch's temperament, perhaps, than the BSO.

CD 2 begins in much better sound with a 1960 Scherzo from the Mendelssohn Octet arranged for string orchestra; it's quite a carefree, catchy reading. From Paris with the French National Radio Orchestra comes a 1966 Bizet Sym. in C. Munch was 75 and going strong with a revived career in France, and this is a winning, exuberant performance, considerably more disciplined than the Beethoven from Boston. The tangy Gallic tone of the orchestra is nice to hear.

Then we jump back to 1956 in Boston for a Munch commission, the Martinu Sym. 6 (the Great Condcutors series has featured quite a lot of this nearly fogotten Czech modernist). This work is typicaly impressoinistic and easy to listen to, though amorphous in shape. Munch and the BSO give it the best performance technically of the set. Finally we get excerpts from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet from the BSO (1957), a sloppy, roughshod performance that is refreshingly spontaeous--the best and worst of Munch all at once.

Overall, this is a fair portrait of a much-loved musician, but one has to note that no one on the podium today could get away with what Munch did. Four stars despite the Beethoven.