Notes and Editorial Reviews
BERLIOZ
Symphonie Fantastique. Benvenuto Cellini:
Overture.
Les Troyens:
Prelude to act III
•
Pierre Monteux, cond; Paris SO
•
MUSIC & ARTS 4762 (62:59)
We who grew up in the 1950s and ’60s tend to attribute the most exciting performances and recordings of the
Symphonie Fantastique
to Charles Munch, but this release proves that Pierre Monteux, generally
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considered more cautious than Munch, was way ahead of him. What prompted this incendiary performance of the
Symphonie
was the memory of its performances under the baton of Edouard Colonne. As a young man, Colonne had admired, met, and known Berlioz, and notated in the score the kind of tempos and phrasing that he heard in the composer’s own performances of his music. These score changes were passed on to Monteux, who also carefully notated them. But when the Nazis invaded France in 1940, they stole all of his scores, including the
Symphonie Fantastique.
Monteux claimed that because of this he could never reproduce these effects again.
Yet since he always preferred this recording of the work to any of those he made later, why couldn’t he just listen? Not only the tempos but the instrumental textures are crystal-clear, despite the dated 1930 sound. Undoubtedly, this is one of the great artistic mysteries of the 20th century, but at least this recording survives as living testimony to an approach to a standard work that was considered revolutionary in its day.
Monteux made no such claims for his performances here of the
Benvenuto Cellini
overture or the
Troyens
act III prelude, yet they, too, receive exciting, enlivened performances. Yes, the sound is dated, but the music on it most certainly is not.
FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley
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Works on This Recording
1.
Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14 by Hector Berlioz
Conductor:
Pierre Monteux
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Paris Symphony Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1830; France
Date of Recording: 06/1930
Venue: Salle Pleyel, Paris, France
Length: 46 Minutes 35 Secs.
2.
Benvenuto Cellini: Overture, Op 23 by Hector Berlioz
Conductor:
Pierre Monteux
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Paris Symphony Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1834-1837; France
Date of Recording: 06/1930
Venue: Salle Pleyel, Paris, France
Length: 10 Minutes 32 Secs.
3.
Les troyens: Act 3 Prelude by Hector Berlioz
Conductor:
Pierre Monteux
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Paris Symphony Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1856-1858; France
Date of Recording: 06/1930
Venue: Salle Pleyel, Paris, France
Length: 4 Minutes 0 Secs.
Sound Samples
Benvenuto Cellini, Op. 23: Overture
Les Troyens: Act III: Prelude
Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14: I. Reveries, passions: Largo - Allegro agitato e appassionato assai
Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14: II. Un Bal (Valse): Allegro non troppo
Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14: III. Scene aux champs: Adagio
Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14: IV. Marche au supplice: Allegretto non troppo
Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14: V. Songe d'une Nuit du Sabbat: Larghetto - Allegro
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