Pierre Monteux (conductor)
Live
BBC Northern Orchestra; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; London Symphony Orchestra
rec. live, 1959-1963; conversations 1955 and 1992-1995) AAD (mono/stereo)
SOMM Recordings Ariadne 5028-2 [2 CDs: 159]

The great French conductor Pierre Monteux (1875-1964) left an extensive and important commercial recording legacy. Over the last twenty years or more, his discography has been significantly enriched thanks to the release of many archive recordings of live performances. My colleague, Jonathan Woolf and I share an admiration for the work of ‘Le Maître’ and between us we’ve reviewed a good number of these Monteux releases, many of which, I fear, may no longer be available. Some years ago, Jonathan reviewed a substantial boxed set, containing some 16 hours of live Monteux broadcasts and he made this comment: “Sixteen hours with Pierre Monteux is no time at all, so zestful, so clear, so deft his musicianship and so sympathetic his conducting.” Such an enthusiastic comment inevitably led me into temptation and I bought the set for myself: how right he was!  

There are several notable composer anniversaries in 2024. That might mean that the sixtieth anniversary of Monteux’s death in 1964 might slip under the radar. Fortunately, SOMM have done their bit to honour the memory of this great conductor with this two-disc set, curated by Jon Tolansky, which brings us a number of live UK performances which Monteux gave in the 1960s. There are two valuable bonuses in the shape of a short excerpt from a rehearsal of Dvořák’s Seventh symphony and a series of spoken recollections of ‘Le Maître’, as well as a brief opportunity to hear Monteux himself speak.

The music is taken from three concerts. The Weber and Beethoven works and Rapsodie espagnole were all played in a concert at Manchester Town Hall on 18 October 1963 when Monteux came to conduct the BBC Northern Orchestra (forerunner of the BBC Philharmonic).  I well remember that orchestra. In the 1970s, as a teenager, I attended a good number of concerts that they gave on the Yorkshire side of the Pennines. They were a good orchestra and they attracted some estimable conductors. However, I don’t recall anyone else of Monteux’s eminence; the fact that the principal conductor of the LSO came to make music with them must have been quite a feather in the orchestra’s collective cap.

I may be wrong but I wonder if the Weber overture is new to the Monteux discography. Truth to tell, it’s not quite as memorable as Weber’s best overtures but this sprightly performance is welcome nonetheless. The aircheck of the BBC broadcast emphasises the cellos and basses, which results in a rather portly sound. Nonetheless, the performance is enjoyable. The heavy cello and bass sound persists into the ‘Pastoral’ Symphony but I found it less of an issue. Possibly that’s because my ears had adjusted but, more likely, it was because there is so much else to enjoy in the performance. The first movement is stylishly done; the music-making is alert and happy. Monteux imparts an easeful flow to the Scene by the Brook; his reading is very persuasive. The Scherzo features a very lively, good humoured rustic dance, even if the sound is a bit congested in the loud passages. The depiction of the Storm is strongly projected; the only snag is that, as recorded, the timpani are too dominant. Stylish is the word which again comes to mind in the finale; Monteux’s conducting is elegant but it’s also purposeful. This is a very enjoyable account of the ‘Pastoral’.

To complete his Manchester programme, Monteux offered Rapsodie espagnole. The opening Prélude à la nuit isn’t perhaps as seductively shaded as would be the case with more illustrious orchestras of that time, but the members of the BBCNO still do well. In the third section, Habañera, they stablish a sultry atmosphere under the direction of their distinguished guest. The concluding Feria is colourful and lively. The performance overall of the Rapsodie is a success and one can only admire the fact that it is by a conductor in his late eighties, working, I believe, with this orchestra for the first (and only?) time. The audience applaud all three performances warmly but are otherwise unobtrusive.

More Ravel was on the bill when Monteux conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in a live concert from the BBC Studios. SOMM give the date as 25 December 1960; since that was Christmas Day, I wonder if that was actually the date of transmission, rather than performance. This time, Monteux offered the Second Suite from Daphnis et Chloé. Of course, this was a work indelibly associated with Monteux, who had conducted the first performance of the ballet in 1912, His great recording of the complete ballet with the LSO, made in 1959, remains a benchmark account to this day (review). Here, though he performs the suite sans chorus, which is a shame, there’s still much to enjoy. In ‘Lever du jour’, Monteux gets the strings to sing Ravel’s extended, soaring melody; he builds the crescendi expertly to the point where the climaxes are released. It’s mildly curious to see only  Jack Brymer credited (as solo clarinet) because, the unnamed principal flute – and, indeed, all the woodwind principals – really shines in ‘Pantomime’; here. as elsewhere Monteux demonstrates his mastery of texture. Brymer comes to the fore in ‘Danse générale’. Monteux’s tempo is steadier than those adopted by some of today’s virtuoso conductors but the pace doesn’t matter so much as the life that the veteran Frenchman injects into the rhythms.

From the same RPO concert, it’s a joy to hear Monteux in Haydn’s ‘London’ Symphony, No 104. After a stately Introduction to the first movement, the main Allegro has pleasing vitality. The Andante is elegantly done, though the robust central section is strongly projected. The Menuetto is sturdy – though graceful where called for – and Monteux invests the Trio with seemingly effortless charm. The finale is marked Spiritoso and Monteux’s performance ‘does what it says on the tin’; his performance has a twinkle in its eye. As with the Daphnis suite, there’s no applause after this performance; I suspect no audience was present, even though the performances are live.   

As well as Daphnis et Chloé, Pierre Monteux’s name will forever be associated with Le Sacre du Printemps. He conducted the famously scandalous premiere in Paris on 29 May 1913; fifty years later to the day, he and the London Symphony Orchestra gave an anniversary performance in London’s Royal Albert Hall in the presence of the composer. The LSO’s performance isn’t infallible; one can hear several fluffs. However, even though some of Monteux’s tempi are a bit too steady, I felt as I listened that he and the orchestra definitely convey the spirit of this iconoclastic masterpiece. I was reminded of another Monteux recording of Le Sacre which I reviewed a while ago. This was a studio recording – one of the work’s very first recordings – which he made way back in 1929 with the Orchestre Symphonique de Paris. On that occasion the French players were audibly challenged by the music. That’s certainly not the case with the LSO of 1963. However, I think that, as was the case with the 1929 traversal, this anniversary performance offers a refreshing contrast with the sleek, flawless performances which one has come to take almost for granted nowadays. And while some of Monteux’s tempi seem on the cautious side, especially compared with those adopted by some of the tyro conductors of today, I feel that he’s absolutely inside the music and he’s still able to convey Stravinsky’s vision. Astonishingly, even at the age of 88, so complete was ‘Le Maître’s’ mastery of the score that he conducted it from memory. (In one of the audio recollections later on Disc 2 a contributor suggests that Stravinsky was somewhat miffed that Monteux didn’t use the latest revision of the work for this performance, thereby depriving the composer of some royalties. I suspect that Monteux didn’t give a fig about such matters; he just stuck with the score which he had imprinted on his memory all those years ago – and rightly so!). Despite its occasional rough edges and some tempi that needed to move on a fraction, this account of Le Sacre is well worth hearing; there’s a sense of occasion. Overall, this performance offers the best sound in the set. though I must caution that the percussion do rather overwhelm everyone else in parts of the concluding Sacrificial Dance.

There’s one more bit of music-making in the set: two tantalisingly brief snippets of Monteux rehearsing the LSO in Dvořák’s Seventh symphony. We hear him working on a passage in the first movement and another in the Scherzo (not the slow movement as stated in the booklet). The date is given as October 1959 and it wouldn’t surprise me if these fragments were captured when Monteux recorded the work for Decca on 19 and 20 October 1959. To be honest, even when I listened through headphones it was hard to pick up what Monteux had to say.

You can hear him properly in the last of the collections of spoken reminiscences. There’s a short excerpt from a longer interview which he gave in Amsterdam in 1955. In it, he explains how the Dutch composer, Willem Pijper (1894-1947) came to dedicate his Third symphony (1926) to Monteux, who premiered the work. What caught me ear was the conductor’s comment which shows that he went beyond just giving the first performance. He subsequently “played it everywhere I was engaged” and reels off several American cities and Paris: how pleased Pijper must have been at such generous advocacy. All the other recollections are equally worth hearing. These are interviews which Jon Tolansky conducted between 1992 and 1995 with a number of people, mainly ex-LSO members, who knew Monteux well. What comes through very strongly is that, without exception, all these musicians held Monteux in admiration and affection in equal measure. Two comments caught my ear especially. Hugh Maguire (the LSO’s Leader, 1956-1961) pays tribute to the way Monteux conducted French music and made the fascinating comment that the Frenchman drew on not only his native experience but also on his long period working in the USA in investing the textures with a touch of “glamour”. The other comment was by the late Sir Neville Marriner, who suggested that Monteux broadened the horizons of the LSO and made them feel they were “an international orchestra”. There’s also a delicious anecdote by former LSO percussionist, James Holland, about Monteux’s rehearsal for the 50^th anniversary performance of Le Sacre du Printemps: it would be wrong of me to spoil the surprise by saying more.    

If you’re an admirer of Pierre Monteux – and why wouldn’t you be? – you should certainly listen to this handsome tribute to ‘Le Maître’ sixty years after his death. I believe that all the performances – and the interviews too – are here released for the first time. The performances are admirable, showing the wit, flair and thorough musicality of this great French conductor. Of Pierre Monteux it is surely fair to apply the old saying ‘they don’t make ‘em like that anymore’. SOMM have done him proud. Paul Baily has done a fine job of audio restoration on the performances, all of which have been made available by Music Preserved. In addition to producing the set, Jon Tolansky has written the absorbing booklet essay.

I began my review with an appreciative endorsement of Pierre Monteux from Jonathan Woolf. I think I’ll let him have the last word too. A few years ago, reviewing a collection of live recordings featuring Monteux and the Boston Symphony Orchestra Jonathan made this discerning comment: “I hope we never reach the stage when people begin to tire of live, previously unreleased Monteux performances.” I couldn’t agree more.

John Quinn

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Contents

Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)
Jubilee Overture J 245 (Op 59)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Symphony No 6 in F major, Op 66, ‘Pastoral’
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Rapsodie espagnole, M.54
Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2 M.57b
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Symphony No 104 in D major, Hob. 1:104
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
The Rite of Spring (50^th anniversary performance)
‘Pierre Monteux: Souvenirs of an Icon’
Antonín Dvořák (1841-1901)
Symphony No 7 in D minor B. 141 (op 70) in rehearsal