MONTEUX in Philadelphia: Prokofiev, Brahms, Hindemith, Schubert (1945/1960) - PASC594

Pierre Monteux only gave four broadcasts with the Philadelphia Orchestra: two in January, 1945 (the latter of which included the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with Isaac Stern that appears on PASC 519), one the following October, and the last, broadcast and recorded in stereo, on March 4, 1960. The first of these featured Prokofiev’s Suite No. 1 from Romeo and Juliet, broadcast on 6 January 1945.

Only the first six numbers from the Prokofiev Suite were broadcast, probably due to timing reasons. (This series of broadcasts were done as one-hour programs in an empty hall between 6:00 and 7:00 p.m. on Saturday nights preceding the regular subscription concerts at 8:00.) The seventh number, "Tybalt's Death", was omitted. It's the only Monteux recording of the work that we are aware of. He never recorded any Prokofiev commercially, and the only other known live broadcast of his music is the "Classical" Symphony with the Boston Symphony in a West Hill Radio Archives release.

The 1960 broadcast from WFLN-FM features three works, two of which Monteux did not record commercially (the Hindemith Mathis der Maler Symphony and the Schubert 9th), along with the Brahms Tragic Overture, which he did record in the studio but which wasn't released until decades after his death. We have opted to preserve the order in which the pieces were performed in the 1960 concert, and retained the announcements. All the recordings were made in the Academy of Music.

As with the Stokowski Philadelphia Orchestra broadcasts of 1962 (PASC372 & PASC379) the musical content of these recordings was preserved separately to the applause and announcements, and in a different stereo format normally reserved for broadcasting. I’ve employed cross-fades where possible to reduce any sense of a jump from one to the other, but sharp-eared listeners may still detect this.

The 1960 Philadelphia recordings have survived exceptionally well on magnetic tape reels for the last sixty years, and sound quality is superb throughout. By contrast the 1945 acetate discs which preserve the Prokofiev recording have inevitably suffered some wear and damage since their creation, and this will be heard from time to time where it has proved impossible to eliminate in its entirety. I have retained as much of the pre-and post-announcements here as possible, though unfortunately very little remains. Nevertheless, despite these caveats, this remains a hugely enjoyable performance and a vital addition to the Monteux catalogue.

Andrew Rose