Franck: Symphony; Stravinsky: Petrouchka / Monteux, Et Al

$8.99
Label
Sony Masterworks
Release Date
March 9, 1999
Format
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    Featuring ⌄
    • COMPOSER
      FRANCK STRAVINSKY
    • PERFORMER
      Monteux, Bso
    Product Details ⌄
    • RELEASE DATE
      March 09, 1999
    • UPC
      090266330324
    • CATALOG NUMBER
      09026633032
    • LABEL
      Sony Masterworks
    • NUMBER OF DISCS
      1
    • GENRE
      Orchestral & Symphonic
    Works ⌄

    1. I. Lento

      Composer: César Franck

      Ensemble: Chicago Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Pierre Monteux

    2. II. Allegretto

      Composer: César Franck

      Ensemble: Chicago Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Pierre Monteux

    3. III. Allegro non troppo

      Composer: César Franck

      Ensemble: Chicago Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Pierre Monteux

    4. Scene 1: The Shrove-Tide Fair: Vivace

      Composer: Igor Stravinsky

      Ensemble: Boston Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Pierre Monteux

    5. Scene 1: The Shrove-Tide Fair: The Magic Trick

      Composer: Igor Stravinsky

      Ensemble: Boston Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Pierre Monteux

    6. Scene 1: The Shrove-Tide Fair: Russian Dance

      Composer: Igor Stravinsky

      Ensemble: Boston Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Pierre Monteux

    7. Scene 2: Petrushka's Room

      Composer: Igor Stravinsky

      Ensemble: Boston Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Pierre Monteux

    8. Scene 3: The Moor's Room: Feroce Stringendo

      Composer: Igor Stravinsky

      Ensemble: Boston Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Pierre Monteux

    9. Scene 3: The Moor's Room: Dance of the Ballerina

      Composer: Igor Stravinsky

      Ensemble: Boston Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Pierre Monteux

    10. Scene 3: The Moor's Room: Valse

      Composer: Igor Stravinsky

      Ensemble: Boston Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Pierre Monteux

    11. Scene 4: The Fair Toward Evening: Con moto

      Composer: Igor Stravinsky

      Ensemble: Boston Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Pierre Monteux

    12. Scene 4: The Fair Toward Evening: Wet Nurse's Dance

      Composer: Igor Stravinsky

      Ensemble: Boston Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Pierre Monteux

    13. Scene 4: The Fair Toward Evening: Peasant with Bear

      Composer: Igor Stravinsky

      Ensemble: Boston Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Pierre Monteux

    14. Scene 4: The Fair Toward Evening: Gypsies

      Composer: Igor Stravinsky

      Ensemble: Boston Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Pierre Monteux

    15. Scene 4: The Fair Toward Evening: Dance of the Coachmen

      Composer: Igor Stravinsky

      Ensemble: Boston Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Pierre Monteux

    16. Scene 4: The Fair Toward Evening: Masqueraders

      Composer: Igor Stravinsky

      Ensemble: Boston Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Pierre Monteux

    17. Scene 4: The Fair Toward Evening: Scuffle

      Composer: Igor Stravinsky

      Ensemble: Boston Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Pierre Monteux

    18. Scene 4: The Fair Toward Evening: Death of Petrushka

      Composer: Igor Stravinsky

      Ensemble: Boston Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Pierre Monteux

    19. Scene 4: The Fair Toward Evening: Petrushka's Ghost

      Composer: Igor Stravinsky

      Ensemble: Boston Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Pierre Monteux


A few decades ago, Franck’s Symphony in D minor was standard repertoire, and every major conductor recorded it. Now, the work’s high romantic sentimentality seems to have fallen out of fashion, and new releases are far less common. Interpretations run the gamut from reasonably strict and “classical”, to totally demented (think: Stokowski). Monteux’s falls decidedly into the “classical” category, but never to the detriment of expressivity.

Consider how he handles the luscious second subject of the first movement, with a singing tone and real urgency, the ensuing accelerando done with passion, excitement, and yes, taste. The Chicago Symphony plays gloriously (this was the Reiner era, let’s not forget), responding to Monteux’s every perfectly judged nuance. It has become fashionable lately to disparage this performance, in addition to dogging the work, but as Tovey once wrote, “All’s not false that’s taught in the public schools.” This recording was the best in its day, both interpretively and sonically, and so it remains 50 years on.

The coupling of Pétrouchka might seem odd–there’s only so much Monteux material available in stereo to RCA, but it’s equally wonderful. Indeed, if I had to choose a single CD to represent the conductor’s art at its best, this would probably be the one. Again, he has a great orchestra at his disposal, one fully at home in the idiom, and he leads a performance at once lovingly detailed but also brilliant and glittering. In the Danse Russe Monteux captures the music’s mechanical, cartoonish qualities to perfection, while the folk dances in the concluding tableau have all the rhythmic bounce and gaiety that one could ask. The sonics are superb even by modern standards. What a joy this disc is!

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com