Charles Munch conducts Ravel (vaimusic.com)

[photo161]

a marvelous performance...a superb realization of Ravel's intentions. faster than typical a tempo?, indeed, but Munch and Boston make it pay off spectacularly well. - the orchestral playing is virtuosic in the highest sense of the word and Munch knows exactly how to achieve the qualities of ecstatic sesual abandon that this great finally embodies..

[randomizerca]

Maybe. But I don't know this piece except for this video.  Maybe Ravel was double-parked. Just a thought.

[CCConservatory]

I think Maestro Munch was double parked out on Mass Ave. Or this is a 33 played at 78. He was in such a hurry he didn't even bring his score.  Seriously... this tempo is a joke.

[hophmi]

Yecchh. Way too fast.

[AMAC48]

Charles Munch, Boston Symphony Orch, James Stagliano french horn on Tchaikowski's 5th Symphony = perfection! James Stagliano's rendition of the horn "cantabile" in the 2nd movement is what inspired me to become a french horn player - back in the 50's.

[Nfx1963]

@AMAC48 Stagliano's nothing compared to Myron Bloom

[psabatm]

Harold Farberman plays the snare drums.

[ibriveadus]

Thanks for preserving this little gem and a chance to see principal trumpet Roger Voisin

[belledeballe]

Charles Munch, c'est le meilleur, ce final plus rapide que ce que l'on peut entendre dans les versions contemporaines est brillant, terriblement rythmique, viscéralement envoutant : la meilleure version selon moi !

[dasteufelhund]

OH YES! MAGNIFICENT!

[ipmoic]

I say, if you've got the Boston Symphony, then why not take it at breakneck speed??

Seriously, this was a phenomenal bunch and seen as such. The halcyon days of America's great orchestras. Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia and Boston--and New York when they felt like it!

Magnificent control and fire from the greatly underrated Munch--a conductor's conductor. UNTOUCHABLE in French music and one of the best accompanists where soloists were involved.

[j72050]

...I like it, the Toscanini version too, and the Szell version which is more like Das Meer.

[classicalspin]

Wow, came across this looking at great conductors' technique. Exciting, controlled short of manic. Begins at a basic pulse of 190 .. with flexibility in ensemble phrasing ... and gradually pushes it, ever so, to 200! Wow. Gotta use this in my Spinning Class. Agreed, they don't make 'em like they used to!

[tzhuff]

i hate to sound like one of those "they just don't make 'em like they used to" guys, but my god what a performance. anymore, not many conductors or orchestras seem to be willing to stick their necks out like this. some of the best, most spontaneous music i've heard recently is out of Venezuala. munch and boston seem to have gotten in between the notes here. there is more than just a performance happening. surely others can hear this? all technical talk aside, this is amazing music making.

[fagottobrasil]

Well, the way french music is played those days in international orchestras is just so boring, Munch is nerveux yet it is articule. The Orchestra of Ravel did not have so much weight. French Horn were piston horn, with a tighter "perce", bassoon is buffet crampon, french system a lot less sonorous much more agile the "heckel" german system. The trombone were also of tighter "perce" hence, not as much sound but great articulation and agility. Munch was born during in the XIX in France.

[Hal5423]

WAY too fast!