Search - Stravinsky, Monteux, Bso :: Stravinsky: Petrushka/The Rite of Spring

Original conductor still the best?

S. G. Oles | Venice, CA United States | 01/17/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Monteux conducted the famously disastrous premiere of this ballet in 1913, also the triumphant premiere of the work as a concert piece the following year.This work is MAULED by most conductors and orchestras, who are overwhelmed by its technical, rhythmic, and emotional demands. Most orchestras sloppily barnstorm their way through it, missing its fascinating delicacy and beauty.The famous Muti RITE, for example, is very well-recorded -- but what a crude, one-dimensional reading! LE SACRE is not just a bunch of noise for orchestra. It is as emotional, seductive, sensual, and delicate as anything in 20th Century music.Stravinsky's own recording is the only one I've heard where the conductor grasps, and the orchestra is able to play, the work's many colors and subtlties. Until I heard this one ...Monteux has it all -- power, delicacy, emotion, a magical way of untangling for the listener the many strands of melody and harmony. And this is coupled with a thrilling, punchy version of PETROUSCHKA, preferable to the dry academic-sounding one which accompanies Stravinsky's own fabulous RITE recording.Though recorded in the 1950s, the sound of this disk is so clear, full, and transparent, it puts a lot of modern digital recordings to shame.If you've never heard this recording or Stravinsky's, you may never have really heard this piece, one of the greatest and most lovable works in 20th century music."

Legendary Rite of Spring

Doug - Haydn Fan | California | 04/19/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is by way of answer to the dreadfully wrong review of Mr. McCue. Reviews can be personal, and tastes differ, but this endless Monteux bashing is preposterous. Few if any conductors had his mastery of an orchestra, and charges of too much inconsistency and the like certainly are doubly false and misleading when they are leveled at such a masterpiece of conducting as is so much on display in this recording of the Rite of Spring.



To begin with: There are WORLDS of difference between the Paris and Boston orchestras! The Paris recording here mentioned IS a blemish, though the fault certainly does not lie with Monteux! The first chair players in the Paris would have had trouble finding work on the back chairs of the Boston, and certainly none of the dreadful horns or basses would even be considered for an audition! They're that poor. Being French is no excuse for being second-rate! By contrast the first chair players of the Boston can be heard producing beautiful sounds most orchestra directors would swoon over, of a quality most of us can only dream of hearing emanating from our own concert halls.



Monteux's conducting of the Boston in the Rite of Spring may not have an earthy flavor, being at times more a silk purse than a sow's ear, but it is certainly NOT pedestrian or second rate! Suggesting this performance fails to capture Stravinsky's music and that Monteux is 'over-rated' in Stravinsky doesn't fly with this listener. Nor would such a negative viewpoint have held any water with the members of the Boston Symphony, who were unanimous and unstinting in their praise of Monteux in this very music. Listening to the recording - and I urge you to try the samples for yourself and make up your own mind - one hears enormous power held in check throughout, power Monteux unleashes quite effectively when the score calls for it. If he doesn't allow the pent-up forces of the music to overwhelm and destroy orchestra cohesion, that's not a bad thing. Stravinsky, when he conducted the work, emphasized control and structure, too, usually finding very little color in his stark approach to his music. Monteux and the wondrous Boston players seemly give us the best of both sides of the music, and do a far better job than the highly regarded performances of the composer in bringing out the formalistic without sacrificing color.



Moreover, claiming this recording fails to fully bring out the splendors of the Boston Symphony are patently false. Martin Bookspan, who attended the rehersals and recording sessions, gives a very detailed description on the proceedings: what he, as a veteran listener and critic of the orchestra, heard and reports completely contradicts what reviewer McCue claims he hears on the recording.



In the end you have to listen with your own ears, and decide. Personally I dislike hammering anyone for their opinions, but sometimes you have to refute such misleading statements, statements made without either historic or aesthetic justification. This IS a legendary recording, and deserves no such shabby treatment in a review. I might not have repsonded if the negative reviewer had not made those outlandish comparisons in favor of the Paris orchestra over the Boston. That's flat out ridiculous!



This deleted CD can now be purchased again in its new remastered version: Stravinsky: Le sacre du printemps; Pétrouchka This site does not offer the sound samples you can here at this listing."