ABOUT CHARLES MUNCH
“I hope there will be joy,” Charles Munch said in 1949 at the
beginning of his tenure as music director of the Boston Symphony
Orchestra. When he stepped down 13 years later, a keynote speaker
proudly and happily confirmed that “there has been joy”. Sony
Classical is proud and happy to announce a new reissue of all the
s that Munch, one of the most dynamic and charismatic
conductors of the 20th century, made for RCA Victor while in
Boston. This 86-CD release marks the first time that this
cornerstone of the classical catalogue has been available in a
single box.
Charles Munch (originally Münch) was born in Strasbourg in 1891,
during the brief period when Alsace-Lorraine was part of the
German Empire. He himself straddled the two cultures: trained as
a violinist at the conservatories of Strasbourg and Paris, he was
conscripted into the German army in World War I. After the war he
taught at the conservatory and played in the orchestra of
Strasbourg (by then French again) from 1920 until he was
appointed concertmaster of the illustrious Leipzig Gewandhaus
Orchestra in 1926 under Wilhelm Furtwängler and Bruno Walter.
After making his own podium début in Paris in 1932, Munch settled
there and established his reputation as one of the leading French
conductors of the day, championing the music of Berlioz as well
as of such contemporaries (and friends) as Honegger, Roussel and
Poulenc. Following World War II – during which he strongly
supported the French resistance (he was awarded the Légion
d’Honneur in 1945) – his international career took off. In 1946
he made his début with several US orchestras, including the
Boston Symphony. Three years later, aged 58, he was appointed by
that patrician ensemble to succeed Serge Koussevitzky as music
director.
Reflecting his own cultural duality, Munch turned the BSO into
arguably the greatest French orchestra in the world while
preserving its sovereignty in the American, Austro-German,
central European and Russian repertoires. He took the orchestra
on an unprecedented tour of the Soviet Union in 1956 and
premièred many important BSO commissions.
ABOUT THE S
How to summarize this huge achievement? Let the reviews speak,
starting with those composers with whom Munch enjoyed a special
affinity and devotion, and those performances which have,
arguably, never been equalled, let alone surpassed. Beginning
with his Berlioz: “Munch owns the Requiem,” declared
ClassicsToday.com … SACD technology removes the last barrier to
experiencing the full sonic impact of this magnificent
.” The Overtures, including the Roman Carnival, etc. are
heard in “dazzlingly brilliant performances. The virtuosity of
the Boston players is breathtaking … Wonderfully poetic and
thrilling account of the Royal Hunt and Storm … The early stereo
(1957/9) is remarkable: one really feels the hall ambience”
(Penguin Guide). “An unforgettable Harold [in Italy] (BBC Music
Magazine, 5 stars), with [William] Primrose (in his farewell
Boston season) in imperious form, and a finely chiselled,
sonorous d’Indy symphony.” La Damnation de Faust: “A lasting
legacy of Munch’s command both of detail and broad ”;
L’Enfance du Christ: “One of the most moving of all s of
this work” (MusicWeb International). His Franck: “Munch’s 1957
performance of the Symphony in D minor was always among the
finest ever recorded … Le Chasseur maudit (recorded five years
later) also sounds spectacular” (Penguin Guide); and his
Saint-Saëns: “Overwhelmingly spectacular [Symphony No. 3] … One
of the most successful and most believable s ever made
in Symphony Hall. The performance is stunning, full of lyrical
ardour and moving forward in a single sweep of great intensity”
(Penguin Guide). “Still the greatest of the Organ
Symphony ever made” (ClassicsToday.com), “this latest remastering
sounds even grander than the previous Living Stereo incarnation,
with a more present and bass-rich organ making a positively
cataclysmic experience out of the finale.”
His Ravel: The legendary Daphnis et Chloé, now in SACD, “is one
of the great glories of the 1950s” (Penguin Guide). “The playing
in all departments of the Boston orchestra is simply electrifying
… There is a heady sense of intoxication that at times sweeps you
off your feet.” “One of the earliest stereo s, Munch’s
1955 Daphnis still sounds terrific … The performance itself is
marvellously alive to both the colours and structure of Ravel’s
greatest score … Munch remains a must” (BBC Music Magazine; 5
stars).
His Debussy: “Munch’s 1956 of ‘La Mer’ harks back to a
time when American orchestras retained great individuality and
the Boston Symphony, shaped by Monteux and Munch as well as Serge
Koussevitzky, could seem a superb French instrument” (New York
Times). “Mesmerising accounts of ‘La valse’ and ‘Ibéria’ … The
sound on this disc is remarkably vivid” (BBC Music Magazine; 5
stars); “Iberia in particular has a visceral quality that few
other performances match, while Rondes de printemps is truly
joyous” (ClassicsToday.com).
But Munch was always more than a French spet. To cite just
a few other examples from his BSO discography: “Munch’s Schubert
Ninth is unbelievably exciting, with the orchestra playing as if
its collective life depended on it … The “Unfinished” is cely
less fine … the orchestral winds positively glow in the Andante …
This is one of the true ‘desert island’ classics’”
ClassicsToday.com). “Thrilling. I would still count this Munch
[Schubert Ninth] among the finest versions ever” (Gramophone).
“Munch always was a great Tchaikovsky conductor; he responded to
the composer’s often almost hysterical passion with complete
spontaneity and conviction [symphonies and tone poems]”
(ClassicsToday.com). “Galvanic conducting and orchestral playing
of simply superb virtuosity [of Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8] … The
clarity of detail in both performance and is
remarkable” (Gramophone). And, not least, some of his other
accled Boston s of 20th-century works: Honegger
Symphonies 2 & 5 (“There is no better version … ” and Roussel 3
(“ranks with the best” – ClassicsToday.com) as well as two
BSO-commissioned Sixth Symphonies: Piston’s (“An invaluable
premiere ” – MusicWeb International) and Martinů’s
(“Munch conducted the world première … and no one has surpassed
it” – Classical Net).
There is also Munch and the BSO accompanying singers: “Eileen
Farrell, the legendary Wagnerian soprano … appears in a stunning
program of highlights from Tannhäuser, Tristan, and the Ring”
(ClassicsToday.com). “A witty, incisive, deliciously pointed
performance [of Stravinsky’s Jeu de cartes] which is beautifully
balanced and recorded. All Stravinskians will want this”
(Gramophone). “The great Mahler singer Maureen Forrester is in
spectacular voice in these performances of Songs of a Wayfarer
and Kindertotenlieder” (ClassicsToday.com).
And, of course, accompanying instrumentalists: Walton wrote his
Cello Concerto for Gregor Piatigorsky, who gave its première –
and recorded it – in Boston in January 1957. “He plays it with a
gripping combination of full-blooded eloquence and subtlety of
feeling. Munch provides a totally understanding accompaniment,
with the strings of the Boston Symphony finding that special
quality of lyrical ecstasy which is such a distinctive part of
this concerto” (Penguin Guide). Indeed most of the major concerto
repertoire is included here, played by pianists such as
Rubinstein, Richter, Casadesus, Janis and Graffman; violinists
Heifetz, Oistrakh, Menuhin, Milstein and Szeryng, violist William
Primrose and clarinettist Benny Goodman.
The new set also contain Munch’s 1963 French-music compilation
with the Philadelphia Orchestra for American Columbia and as
always from Sony Classical, every performance comes from the best
source, some newly remastered from the original tapes.
