The Legacy of Charles Munch

Orchestre de la Société Philharmonique de Paris, L’Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire de Paris, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Concertgebouworkest, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Charles Munch

Release Date: 22nd May 2020
Catalogue No: ELQ4840219
Label: Eloquence
Length: 14 hours 10 minutes

Diapason d’Or

July/August 2020

Réédition

Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days

Ravel: Piano Concerto in D major (for the left hand)

Work length17:39

Jacqueline Blancard (piano)
Orchestre Philharmonique de Paris
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1938-01

Widor: Fantaisie pour piano et orchestre en la bémol majeur, Op.62

Work length17:36

Marcelle Herrenschmidt (piano)
Orchestre de la Société Philharmonique de Paris
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1938-02
Recording Venue: Paris

Haydn: Sinfonia Concertante in B flat major, Op. 84, Hob. I / 105

Work length19:58

Roland Charmy (violin), André Navarra (cello), Myrtil Morel (oboe), Fernand Oubradous (bassoon)
L'Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire de Paris
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1938-10
Recording Venue: Paris

1. Allegro

Track length8:44

2. Andante

Track length5:04

3. Allegro con spirito

Track length6:10

Mozart: Adagio & Fugue in C minor for Strings, K546

Work length8:51

L'Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire de Paris
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1939-02
Recording Venue: Paris

1. Adagio

Track length4:39

2. Fugue

Track length4:12

Beethoven: Symphony No. 8 in F major, Op. 93

Work length21:15

Paris Conservatoire Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1947-09
Recording Venue: Kingsway Hall, London

1. Allegro vivace e con brio

Track length7:02

2. Allegretto scherzando

Track length3:33

3. Tempo di menuetto

Track length3:39

4. Allegro vivace

Track length7:01

Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 5 in D major, Op. 107 'Reformation'

Work length24:36

Paris Conservatoire Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1947-10
Recording Venue: --, --

1. Andante - Allegro con fuoco

Track length10:08

2. Allegro vivace

Track length4:18

3. Andante

Track length2:38

4. Choral "Ein' Feste Burg ist unser Gott!"

Track length7:32

Berlioz: Overture "Benvenuto Cellini", Op. 23

Work length10:47

Paris Conservatoire Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1946-11
Recording Venue: --, --

Berlioz: Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17, H 79 / Pt. 2

Work length11:44

Paris Conservatoire Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1949-06
Recording Venue: --, --

Roméo seul - Tristesse - Concert et bal.

Track length11:44

Berlioz: Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17, H 79 / Pt. 3

Work length13:38

Paris Conservatoire Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1949-06
Recording Venue: --, --

Scène d'amour

Track length13:38

Berlioz: Roméo et Juliette, Op. 17, H 79 / Pt. 2

Work length8:11

Paris Conservatoire Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1949-05-31

Scherzo. La Reine Mab

Track length8:11

Berlioz: Les Troyens, H 133 / Act 4

Work length8:30

Paris Conservatoire Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1946-11
Recording Venue: --, --

No. 29 Chasse Royale et Orage - Pantomime

Track length8:30

Berlioz: Overture "Le Corsaire", H 101

Work length8:08

Paris Conservatoire Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1948-05
Recording Venue: --, --

Schumann: Symphony No. 4 in D minor, Op. 120

Work length23:47

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1947-06-04
Recording Venue: Kingsway Hall, London

1. Ziemlich langsam - Lebhaft

Track length8:42

2. Romanze. Ziemlich langsam

Track length4:08

3. Scherzo

Track length3:40

4. Langsam - Lebhaft - Schneller - Presto

Track length7:17

Brahms: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77

Work length37:52

Ossy Rennardy (violin), Ossy Renardy (violin)
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1948-09
Recording Venue: Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, Amsterdam

1. Allegro non troppo

Track length20:32

2. Adagio

Track length9:19

3. Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace - Poco più presto

Track length8:01

Franck, C: Symphonic Variations for piano & orchestra, M46

Work length16:00

Eileen Joyce (piano)
Paris Conservatoire Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1946-10-11
Recording Venue: Walthamstow Assembly Hall, London

Franck, C: Symphony in D minor

Work length34:35

Paris Conservatoire Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1946-10
Recording Venue: Walthamstow Assembly Hall, London

1. Lento - Allegro ma non troppo - Allegro

Track length16:13

2. Allegretto

Track length8:48

3. Allegro non troppo

Track length9:34

Saint-Saëns: Le Rouet d'Omphale, Op. 31

Work length8:36

Paris Conservatoire Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1946-10-11
Recording Venue: Walthamstow Assembly Hall, London

Saint-Saëns: Danse macabre, Op. 40

Work length6:47

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1948-09
Recording Venue: Concertgebouw, Grote Zaal, Amsterdam

Bizet: Symphony in C

Work length24:09

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1947-06-03
Recording Venue: Kingsway Hall, London

1. Allegro vivo

Track length6:16

2. Adagio

Track length8:33

3. Scherzo. Allegro vivace

Track length3:39

4. Finale. Allegro vivace

Track length5:41

Bizet: La jolie fille de Perth (Suite)

Work length3:16

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1947-06-05
Recording Venue: Kingsway Hall, London

4. Danse bohémienne

Track length3:16

Fauré: Pelléas et Mélisande (Suite), Op. 80

Work length16:17

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1947-06-05
Recording Venue: Kingsway Hall, London

1. Prélude

Track length5:31

2. Fileuse

Track length2:19

3. Sicilienne

Track length3:42

4. La mort de Mélisande

Track length4:45

Fauré: Pavane, Op. 50

Work length4:51

Paris Conservatoire Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1946-10
Recording Venue: Walthamstow Assembly Hall, London

Indy: Fervaal, Op. 40

Work length4:43

Paris Conservatoire Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1947-10
Recording Venue: --, --

Prélude

Track length4:43

Prokofiev: Symphony No. 1 in D major, Op. 25 'Classical'

Work length12:36

Paris Conservatoire Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1947-10-04
Recording Venue: Kingsway Hall, London

1. Allegro

Track length3:30

2. Larghetto

Track length3:24

3. Gavotta. Non troppo allegro

Track length1:28

4. Finale. Vivace

Track length4:14

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74 'Pathétique'

Work length46:21

Paris Conservatoire Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1948-05-27
Recording Venue: La Maison de la Mutualité, Paris

1. Adagio - Allegro non troppo

Track length18:23

2. Allegro con grazia

Track length8:14

3. Allegro molto vivace

Track length8:40

4. Finale. Adagio lamentoso - Andante

Track length11:04

Debussy: Images for orchestra: II. Ibéria

Work length19:41

Paris Conservatoire Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1947-10
Recording Venue: --, --

I. Par les rues et par les chemins

Track length6:43

II. Les parfums de la nuit

Track length8:45

III. Le matin d'un jour de fête

Track length4:13

Debussy: Berceuse héroïque

Work length4:33

Paris Conservatoire Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1947-10
Recording Venue: --, --

Roussel: Petite Suite Op. 39

Work length12:02

Paris Conservatoire Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1946-10
Recording Venue: Walthamstow Assembly Hall, London

1. Aubade

Track length2:47

2. Pastorale

Track length6:11

3. Masquerade

Track length3:04

Roussel: Le festin de l'araignée (Fragments symphoniques), Op. 17

Work length17:39

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1947-06-06
Recording Venue: Kingsway Hall, London

1. Prélude

Track length4:03

2. Entrée des fournis

Track length1:20

3. Danse du papillon

Track length3:13

4. Eclosion de l'éphémère

Track length2:17

5. Danse de l'éphémère et des chenilles

Track length3:24

6. Funérailles de l'éphémère

Track length2:10

7. La nuit tombe sur le jardin solitaire

Track length1:12

Roussel: Suite in F major, Op. 33

Work length14:36

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1947-06-02
Recording Venue: Kingsway Hall, London

1. Prélude

Track length4:04

2. Sarabande

Track length6:06

3. Gigue

Track length4:26

Ravel: Piano Concerto in G major

Work length21:37

Nicole Henriot (piano)
Paris Conservatoire Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1949-08
Recording Venue: --, --

1. Allegramente

Track length8:12

2. Adagio assai

Track length9:13

3. Presto

Track length4:12

Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 1

Work length8:27

Paris Conservatoire Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1946-10-09
Recording Venue: Walthamstow Assembly Hall, London

1. Nocturne

Track length4:17

3. Danse guerrière

Track length4:10

Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé - Suite No. 2

Work length15:29

Paris Conservatoire Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1946-10-09
Recording Venue: Walthamstow Assembly Hall, London

1. Lever du jour

Track length4:29

2. Pantomime

Track length7:28

3. Danse générale

Track length3:32

Ravel: Boléro

Work length16:54

Paris Conservatoire Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1946-10
Recording Venue: Walthamstow Assembly Hall, London

Offenbach: Gaîté Parisienne

Work length40:27

New Philharmonia Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1965-12-11
Recording Venue: Kingsway Hall, London

Overture

Track length1:59

Allegro brillante

Track length1:03

Polka

Track length2:00

Ländler (Allegro)

Track length1:43

Mazurka (Allegro)

Track length2:37

Valse

Track length2:13

(Allegro)

Track length1:06

Polka (2)

Track length1:38

Valse lente

Track length2:48

Tempo di marcia

Track length1:24

Valse (2)

Track length2:01

Allegro vivo - Valse

Track length2:41

Allegro

Track length2:20

Valse (3)

Track length3:24

Allegro - Cancan

Track length2:37

Quadrille - Cancan

Track length1:44

Allegro moderato

Track length0:52

Allegro (2)

Track length0:30

Leggiero

Track length1:07

Vivo

Track length1:16

Barcarolle

Track length3:24

Bizet: Carmen Suite (Excerpts from Suites Nos. 1 & 2)

Work length21:07

New Philharmonia Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1967-01-05
Recording Venue: Kingsway Hall, London

Les toréadors

Track length4:24

Aragonaise

Track length2:15

Intermezzo

Track length2:24

Les dragons d'Alcala

Track length1:39

Habanera

Track length2:05

La garde montante

Track length3:39

Danse bohème

Track length4:41

Respighi: Pines of Rome

Work length24:35

New Philharmonia Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1967-01
Recording Venue: Kingsway Hall, London

The Pines of Villa Borghese

Track length3:04

The Pines near a Catacomb

Track length7:52

The Pines of the Janiculum

Track length7:40

The Pines of the Appian Way

Track length5:59

Respighi: Fountains of Rome

Work length17:54

New Philharmonia Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1967-01
Recording Venue: Kingsway Hall, London

The Fountain of Valle Giulia at Dawn

Track length4:52

The Triton Fountain at Morning

Track length2:53

The Fountain of Trevi at Midday

Track length3:37

The Villa Medici Fountain at Sunset

Track length6:32

Bizet: L'Arlesienne Suite No. 1

Work length20:59

New Philharmonia Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1967-01-05
Recording Venue: Kingsway Hall, London

Prélude

Track length8:21

Minuetto

Track length3:29

Adagietto

Track length4:02

Carillon

Track length5:07

Excerpt, Bizet: L'Arlésienne Suite No. 2

Work length3:37

New Philharmonia Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1967-01-05
Recording Venue: Kingsway Hall, London

Farandole

Track length3:37

Barraud: Symphonie n 3

Work length28:44

Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1961

I. Pesante e marcato

Track length9:12

II. Presto

Track length3:48

III. Adagio

Track length8:54

IV. Energetico

Track length6:50

Roussel: Bacchus et Ariane, Op. 43 - Suite No. 2

Work length16:16

Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1961

I. Prélude. Ariane dort - Réveil d'Ariane

Track length2:56

II. Elle regarde avec étonnement de tous côtés

Track length3:56

III. Le baiser - L'enchantement dionysiaque

Track length6:29

IV. Danse d'Ariane et de Bacchus - Bacchanale - Le couronnement d'Ariane

Track length2:55

Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14

Work length51:12

Hungarian Radio And Television Orchestra
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1966-04

1. Rêveries - Passions. Largo - Allegro agitato e appassionato assai - Religiosamente

Track length14:15

2. Un bal. Valse. Allegro non troppo

Track length6:46

3. Scène aux champs. Adagio

Track length15:32

4. Marche au supplice. Allegretto non troppo

Track length4:39

5. Songe d’une nuit de sabbat. Larghetto - Allegro

Track length10:00

Berlioz: Grande Messe des Morts, Op. 5 (Requiem)

Work length1:23:57

Peter Schreier (tenor), Wolfgang Schubert (chorus master)
Symphonie-Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Charles Munch
Recorded: 1967-07-08
Recording Venue: Herkules Saal, Munich

1. Requiem - Kyrie

Track length11:47

2. Dies irae - Tuba mirum

Track length12:28

3. Quid sum miser

Track length2:58

4. Rex tremendae

Track length5:42

5. Quaerens me

Track length5:27

6. Lacrymosa

Track length11:04

7. Domine Jesu Christe

Track length8:23

8. Hostias

Track length3:23

9. Sanctus

Track length10:29

10. Agnus Dei

Track length12:16

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The inspirational French maestro on disc: an unrivalled retrospective, covering three decades of incandescent music-making, including recordings new to CD and long unavailable, newly remastered and comprehensively documented. In the memories of most record-buyers, Charles Munch was indelibly and almost exclusively associated with the RCA label, thanks to a string of spectacular albums made during his thirteen-year-long tenure as Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. From telecasts of that era too is fixed the image of the white-haired, square-jawed maestro urging on his Boston musicians to ever greater heights of intensity with gestures of both elemental passion and delicious legerdemain. These qualities were also present, however, in the recordings made by Munch for several other labels throughout his career. They have now been brought together by Eloquence in a set that offers the most rounded portrait yet of the conductor throughout his career. His earliest recordings were made in Paris for Polydor and for LOiseau-Lyre in 1938, of concertante works by Ravel, Widor (the rarely heard Fantasie for piano and orchestra) and Haydn: these have been newly transferred from original masters by Mark Obert-Thorn. From the beginning of his postwar contract with Decca come London-made recordings of French repertoire (Berlioz, Bizet, Debussy, Faur, Franck, Ravel, Roussel, Saint-Sans) and Austro-German symphonies (Beethoven 8, Mendelssohn 5, Schumann 4), conducting the orchestra of the Socit des Concerts du Conservatoire de Paris which he had led since 1939. In these performances, sustained throughout by a sweeping legato line, we may recall Munchs insistence that To be a conductor is not a mtier but rather a sacred rite. This is no less true of a ragged but thrilling Pathtique Symphony from 1948, now recorded in Paris. After the Boston years, Munch struck up a partnership with the New Philharmonia Orchestra (196557), which yielded albums of Bizet, Offenbach and Respighi in which the conjurors magic fire remained undimmed. He also returned with them to a suite from Roussels Bacchus et Ariane ballet which was always a Munch favourite in concert. His last studio account from Budapest in 1966 of the Symphonie fantastique is also here, having appeared on Fidelio, Hungaroton and Philips, but long unavailable. The set concludes with more Berlioz Munchs sole recording for Deutsche Grammophon, of the Grande messe des morts. This was made in Munich in 1967, the year before his death, and is a moving testament to the conductors career-long dedication to realizing the most original orchestral and acoustic possibilities explored by a composer who, like Munch himself, always went his own way. A wonderful piece of playing, back up by superb recording which captures every detail of the large score and yet maintains a true overall perspective and fidelity. Gramophone, February 1950 (Berlioz: excerpts from Romo et Juliette) Munchs second recording of Berliozs setting of the Requiem Mass resonates to a vision recognising that the devil is in the quiet detail, and that (paradoxically) intimacy triumphs. BBC Music magazine, January 2012 (Requiem) Even the often-staid Scne aux champs is fraught with nervous energy. Munch is on far more freewheeling, maniacal form than in his inspired-enough Boston Symphony studio recordings. Classics Today, January 2006 (Symphonie fantastique) The orchestral playing is vivid in the extreme Munch plays both suites for all theyre worth and all the big moments are brilliantly contrived. Gramophone, August 1976 (Respighi) A special tribute, in reviewing this outstanding recording, should go to Charles Munch, not only for his beautiful orchestral accompaniment, but for the sense of direction and authority that he has so obviously impressed upon the whole performance. Gramophone, September 1947 (Franck: Variations symphoniques).

The Legacy of Charles Munch

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