My listening post this evening is in my recliner in front of the TV, with the classic movie The Dirty Dozen playing in the background.
In the foreground is French conductor Pierre Monteux (1875-1964), the Boston Symphony, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor.
It’s an interesting juxtaposition, I can assure you.
In my eyes, I see Lee Marvin and his dozen jailbirds about to storm some castle behind enemy lines.
In my ears, I hear Maestro Monteux conduct the Boston Symphony with reckless abandon, at a tempo that seems unusually brisk.
More about that in a moment.
I have encountered Maestro Monteux four times previous to today, on…
Day 14. Rating: “Huzzah!”
Day 32. Rating: “Meh!”
Day 50. Rating: “Meh!”
Day 68. Rating: “Huzzah!”
What will this evening bring – besides Marvin and his band of ragamuffins giving their all for the cause?
Let’s find out!
Beethoven wrote his symphonies in four parts (except for the Sixth, which is in five). The time breakdown of this particular one (Symphony No. 5 in C minor), from this particular conductor (Monteux, at age 84) and this particular orchestra (Boston Symphony Orchestra), at this particular time in history (August 8, 1959) on this particular record label (Memories Reverence) is as follows:
I. Allegro con brio (C minor)………………………………………………………6:49
II. Andante con moto (A♭ major)…………………………………………..9:29
III. Scherzo: Allegro (C minor)……………………………………………………4:49
IV. Allegro (C major)………………………………………………………………..8:08
Total running time: 28:35
My Rating:
Recording quality: 4 (considerable tape hiss, lots of ambient noises like coughing)
Overall musicianship: 4 (seems incredibly fast to the point of reckless)
CD liner notes: 0 (no liner notes – boo! hiss! – not even time indications: how long is each track?)
How does this make me feel: 3 (“Meh!”)
Another recording that sounds like the performance was given in the rain.
By that, I mean the tape hiss is so pronounced that there’s a steady shhhhhhhh sound throughout the recording, like the sound rain makes as it falls, hitting roof and ground. In addition, there are a few loud coughs – :26 mark and then again at the 3:50 mark of Movement I – and lots of moving around (audience? musicians?).
Then, there’s the tempo. Look, I can’t tell a fast tempo from a slow one if I had to count it out. I don’t know if Monteux is playing this too fast, or if he isn’t. All I know is the overall time for this performance is the quickest of any I’ve heard to date.
Movement I sounds like the orchestra was challenged to see how fast they could play it. The breakneck pace reminds me of the 1940 Cary Grant movie His Girl Friday, which also starred Rosalind Russell and Ralph Bellamy. I read somewhere that director Howard Hawks told the actors to speak quickly, even overlapping one another at times. In short, a very brisk pace for dialogue.
That’s what this performance by Maestro Monteux sounds like. It sounds like he told the orchestra to play their fingers off, as quickly as possible – for what reason, I don’t know. But it’s fast.
The overall effect of the tape hiss, the coughing, and the brisk pace make this a tedious listen. Even at just a little over 28 minutes in length, this is not a pleasant experience.
I can’t recommend this. In fact, I don’t ever want to hear it again.
“Meh!”
(Oh, and if you want a real experience in nearly subliminal musicianship, listen to the last minute of Movement IV. I comes at you at such a speed that the notes are blips, so rapidly paced that they’re barely heard. It’s like Monteux was trying for subliminal expression at that point. And then the music ends – or does it? maybe the subliminal notes are still playing – and the audience bursts into wild applause, for what reason, I’ll never know.)