Five Stars for the Munch
Doug - Haydn Fan | California | 03/28/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Several reviewers have praised Munch's performances here, usually for a light touch, exemplified in the string passages of the Italian. While that's true, there is another side to Munch's way with Mendelssohn, certainly in play in the Italian, but best exemplified in the other two symphonies. What sets his performances of the Scottish and the Reformation apart from most are powerful full-throated big orchestra sounds, especially in the 3rd Symphony, the Scottish. Munch's drive and sense of drama dominates every movement and makes this one of the best recorded versions. The Boston plays with great color and dash and the original recordings were sensationally well-engineered.
RCA offers the other two major Mendelssohn symphonies, the 4th and the 5th, in a Hybrid SACD, and I highly urge readers to consider that version first. Mendelssohn: Italian & Reformation Symphonies [Hybrid SACD]Sadly this import is currently the only way to purchase Munch's towering version of the Scottish Symphony in a new CD.
The other non-Munch selections on the CD are of little consequence.
If you think Peter Maag owns the Mendelssohn 3rd Symphony, and many of us do, Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Symphony No. 3 / Maag, London Symphony Orchestra you might give this Munch Boston version a listen. A powerful and impressive alternative.
Speaking of the Boston Symphony and Mendelssohn symphonies: Somewhere out there in the recorded vaults Koussevitsky's first unsurpassed reading of the Italian Symphony sleeps away. Perhaps one of today's master sound restorers might one day bring it back to life. It was so full of charm and vivacity even the crotchety old critic and Toscanini fan, B.H.Haggin, admired it above all others."
Munch's Magnificent Mendelssohn
Michael B. Richman | Portland, Maine USA | 05/17/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Since I started seriously collecting classical music only within the last seven years, I missed the opportunity to get many of Charles Munch's CDs when they were widely available domestically, and not outrageously expensive collector's items as they are now. Fortunately, some of his classic performances are beginning to resurface in the French import series "Artistes Repertoires." This two-disc set is one such title, featuring Munch's magnificent accounts of the Mendelssohn "Scottish," "Italian" and "Reformation" Symphonies (3, 4 & 5 respectively) with the Boston Symphony Orchestra from the late 1950s. These renditions are magical and I'm delighted to finally hear what the fuss was all about! Also included here to round out the set are six Mendelssohn Overtures by Claus Peter Flor conducting the Bamberger Symphoniker. These are perfectly competent digital recordings and are nice extras, but certainly not essential to this collection. In all, before you pay some absurd price for an old used RCA Silver or Gold Seal Munch title, first make sure it hasn't been reissued in the "Artistes Repertoires" series."
