Customer Reviews

Tchaikovsky: Symphonies 4, 5 & 6 Pathetique (Volume 14) [MONTEUX EDITION]

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i recently found this set at a used cd store in manhattan (academy records...check it out if you are around 18th and 6th ave). this set typifies monteux's lyricism, elegance, and power at the helm of his beloved boston symphony orchestra. monteux's take on tchaikovsky is different from what you are perhaps used to from masters such as karajan or solti. monteux's tchaikovsky dispenses with the over indulgences of conductors such as bernstein or abbado, and cuts straight to the core, leaving the listener involuntarily saying "wow" after every single movement. the first of the three masterpieces to be recorded by the venerable pair of monteux and the boston orchestra was the 6th in 1955, followed by the 5th in 1958, and finally the 4th in 1959. the recording quality is surprisingly brilliant and live for being captured in the early days of stereophonic sound recording, but credit must be given to the fine remastering team at rca for cleaning up the originals.
this set is well worth sitting in your collection next to that of mravinsky with the lenningrad philharmonic, or the karajan/berlin set. however, the difference between this set and those of the later era are that monteux and tchaikovsky were alive at the same time in the late 19th century. monteux represents one of the greatest modern links to russian and french music from the generations before that of the recording innovations of the 20th century. debussy, ravel, stravinsky, and many other prominent composers hand picked monteux to conduct their orchestral works. this reading of tchaikovsky displays this fact greater than even his authoritative recordings of the rite of spring and petroushka, both of which he gave the world premieres for diagalev's ballet russe. if you have a chance to find this set on cd, i would advise buying it, no matter the price tag.

I totally agree with the review from Mr. Knight. The recording is lyrical, powerful, emotional and excellently recorded. I purchased my set used thru Amazon Maketplace. I prefer the listening and playing qualities of this Pierre Monteux set over the Mravinsky Tchaikovsky DG set. If you can find the Monteux Edition Tchaikovsky set PURCHASE IT IMMEDIATELY. It is out of print and it is fabulous music.

First at all I never have been a fan of Pierre Moneux. I respect him as a honest and convincing director but with some diferences.
That's why I have to make a double acknowledgement in what it concerns to the final result of this Sixth Symphony performance.
There have been many succesful recordings in the past: the most remarkable to my mind, have been: Furtwangler Berlin, Toscanini NBC, Van Kempen Concertgebouw, Cantelli NBC, Giulini Philharmonia and recently discovered tresured from the nineties of a Japanese conductor who sadly is not with us: Asajina with the Osaka Philharmonic.
But this version shines with major intensity respect to the previously named performances. Monteux caught the tragic spirit with such passionate intensity and febril desperation as any other conductor. Go for the Second movement and listen carefully a theme sung in Waltz form in the middle of the movement. And then go to the final movement: you will discover the same theme but expressed in tragical mood.
This Symphony and Manfred anticipated as any other previous works the Mahlerian mood. Besides it revealed the final dissolution, and the cosmic farewell of his author in a very similar approach that Mahler employed with the Ninth 's final.
Go for this treasured album and discover the best approach of the Sixth never released before.

You will hear plenty of recordings of these 3 symphonies that drip with pathos and over-sentimentality. Not here. Monteux is straightforward, and that is actually what makes these recordings work so well. At times he pushes the tempo forward a bit too briskly in my view, but overall it adds to a sense of excitement. The BSO plays wonderfully for him, and the sound is similarly balanced to many of the RCA recordings from the time period. I think the 5th comes off particularly well, but this is a subjective matter. It is great to have an alternative interpretation of these symphonies to what has become more modern practice with Tchaikovsky. As another reviewer noted, these readings may be a bit more "classical" if you will, but this is refreshing. There are also similarities with Szell's classic account of the 4th with the London Symphony on Decca, and Ormandy's account of the 5th with Philadelphia on Sony. I'm pleased to have these recordings in my collection, though I would not say they are first choices for any of the 3 symphonies. Among historic recordings, Mravinsky's Leningrad recordings from the 1960's must take precedence, and I'm very fond of Karajan's second Berlin cycle.

Many critics say what is obvious: Monteux gives an inner pulsation to the music withouth overrefinement or rhytmical exploits: this leads the listener to an incredible experience of having the music withouth an interpretative tradition before, but with the freshness (excluded the errors) of the first performance.
Monteux says in the leaflet that whrn a maestro approaches Tchaikovsky's last symphonies, he tries to put into them what for him is tragical or pathetical. Monteux says that he took him long years to arrive at the point of reading the mere partition...and so we are alone withouth the incredible climaxes of the russian tradition, withouth a certain turgidity, but with a real symphonic form in front of us. Tchaikovsky has non changed the symphony into a kind of symphonic poem of tragical status, bondless, brooding, etc, Tchaikovsky has retained the symphonic form ideated by the great viennese and fulled it with his melodic ideas.
It is natural that this interpretation can be taken as a firm standpoint against the russian school, but it was a russian that expressed the necessity of revitalizing the core symphonic structure of this music: Rachmaninov whilst conducting the 5th in Philadelphia, Many others have taken hi pathway: and Monteux is amongst the finest with Fricsay.