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United StatesMagical it is...
As Daniel G. comments below, the music making here is magical. I imprinted on the Bruno Walter performance of this music for Columbia and have not previously listened to the Monteux. But I am so pleased to have finally been introduced to this recording. The performance with the VPO is indeed awesome and the Decca engineering brings us excellent sonics. Can the members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra play this music in their sleep? Probably. But here they are awake, alert and highly responsive to Monteux. This performance is moving directly to the top of my playlist. And the excellent transfer from the tape by HDTT makes this all the better.
United StatesPrayers Answered
I've been praying for HDTT to lay hands on this tape, but this exceeds my fondest hopes. Everything about the music making here is and has been magical since this first appeared on LP. Monteux has the VPO freely giving its awesome best, even though he couldn't even rehearse them in German. And the interpretation radiates a serene almost holy joy in movements 1,2 and 5, coupled with rustic high spirits in the peasant festival, and straight up terror in the storm. With all that known for generations, HDTT's transfer is still a revelation, like removing a veil. For example, where one might have though the bass a bit tubby, it is now rich and articulate, and so it goes through every register and instrument. The strings don't ever shine, they glow, the brass not only have bite but weight, and the poise and rhythm within even the creamiest (whipped creamiest?) Viennese string blends are palpable, all in the embrace of a vivid sense of space. Wonderful!
Description:
Artist(s): Conductor - Pierre Monteux
Orchestra - Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Recording Info: Producer John Culshaw Engineer James Brown
Recorded by Decca for RCA October 1958 in the Sofiensaal, Vienna
Beethoven Symphony No. 6 In F. Op. 68 ("Pastoral")
1 Allegro Ma Non Troppo 12:17
2 Andante Molto Mosso 11:35
3 Allegro 5:14
4 Allegro 3:32
5 Allegretto 8:49
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