My office this morning while I blog is New Beginnings restaurant. My breakfast is a Mexican chicken all white meat omelette with jalapenos inside and enough Frank’s RedHot and Tabasco sauce on top to make my eyes water.
Yummy.
I first encountered Pierre Monteux (1875-1964) – and I do mean the first; I didn’t run across even so much as his name when I explored the symphonies of Anton Bruckner in 2016-2017 – on Day 14 of this project.
I was pleasantly surprised.
After learning about 17 different conductors (in 18 box sets) in my Beethoven project, I discovered that Pierre Monteux was born the longest ago of all of them – by 10 years.
Wilhem Furtwangler was born in 1886. Otto Klemperer was born in 1885. Monteux was born in 1875, which by the way was just 48 years after Beethoven himself died.
Two observations about Monteux’s birth date:
1. I wonder if Monteux had a different perspective on Beethoven, conducting, music, and life being born in 1875, and
2. Why isn’t Pierre Monteux more well known? Or, at the very least, as well known as Wilhelm Furtwangler and Otto Klemperer? As I mentioned, I had never heard of the guy until this project.
Last time (Day 14) I listened to Pierre Monteux, he conducted the Wiener Philharmonic. This morning, he conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra at a venue called Tanglewood. It’s a live recording, with applause.
Beethoven wrote his symphonies in four parts (except for the Sixth, which is in five). The time breakdown of this particular one (Symphony No. 2 in D Major), from this particular conductor (Monteux, at age 87) and this particular orchestra (Boston Symphony Orchestra), at this particular time in history (August 12, 1962) on this particular record label (Memories Reverence) is as follows:
I. Adagio molto – Allegro con brio………………………………………………………………10:12
II. Larghetto………………………………………………………………………………………………….11:38
III. Scherezo. Allegro – Trio……………………………………………………………………………3:35
IV. Allegro molto…………………………………………………………………………………………….6:31
Total running time: 31:16
My Rating:
Recording quality: 2 (debilitating tape hiss)
Overall musicianship: 3
CD liner notes: 0 (no liner notes – boo! hiss!)
How does this make me feel: 3
I gave Monteux a “Huzzah!” rating the last time I heard him.
This time…nope.
This is a terrible recording. The tape his begins before the music in the first movement. And it’s loud, sort of like a rainstorm on a tin roof. On top of that, the recording sounds flat and compressed – not “stereo” as the CD box tells me. It may be stereo (what the hell do I know?). But it doesn’t sound very spread out in my ears. It sounds scrunched up and without dynamic range.
Often, when I’m listening to an historic recording, I give the benefit of the doubt to the recording – even when there’s noticeable tape hiss. Or a flat sound. I’m just so thrilled to be listening to something important that I get caught up in the thrill.
Not this time.
The audience applause is nice. But the tape his detracts from the dynamics of Beethoven’s composition.
I wish I could rate this more highly. But I can’t.
“Meh” it is.