I have a love/hate relationship with Fall.
On the love side, I dig the cooler temperatures, the lower humidity, and the snap in the air. As Fall progresses (at least, here in Michigan) I enjoy the changing colors on the trees. October is my favorite month, partly because of Ray Bradbury’s incomparable book Something Wicked This Way Comes, the classic tale of Halloween in a small Midwestern town. (I read Bradbury’s genuinely creepy book every year around Halloween.)
On the hate side, I dislike the darker days and the feeling of change in the air, change that – truth be told – hasn’t always been good in my life. Few seasons in Michigan are as about change as Fall is. So I walk around with a feeling of being unsettled, of something coming. (And, hopefully, not something wicked.)
This morning, for example, I’m sitting in The Restaurant-Chain-That-Must-Not-Be-Named, looking out at the darkness, wondering why the hell I’m up and out at 6am on a Saturday. Being awake in the middle of the night always leads to existential questions like, “What have I done with my life?” and “I’m getting older by the second. I have to hurry and do more.”
This is likely why I, from time to time, push myself to do these imposing blog projects, be they watching every Oscar-winning movie since 1927, reading every Hemingway novel, listening to everything Mozart composed, or [fill in the blank]. If I can quantify something (usually with definitive numbers that encompass “all” of something), I’ll consider doing it.
It’s not all a vanity – or a stave-off-the-inevitable-death-of-us-all – project. I learn a crap load about a lot of stuff. And the bragging rights are delicious. But I imagine some of what drives me is my desire to experience life as much as possible before it’s over.
So…
I first heard Pierre Monteux (1875-1964) on Day 14 of this project.
Then again on Day 32.
The results have been mixed.
On Day 14, I awarded the performance with a “Huzzah!”
However, on Day 32 I gave it a sub-“Meh!” rating.
So, what will today bring?
I’ll soon find out.
Beethoven wrote his symphonies in four parts (except for the Sixth, which is in five). The time breakdown of this particular one (Symphony No. 3 in E flat Major), from this particular conductor (Monteux, at age 85) and this particular orchestra (Boston Symphony Orchestra), at this particular time in history (August 8, 1962) on this particular record label (Memories Reverence) is as follows:
I. Allegro con brio………………………………………………………………………14:26
II. Marcia funebre: Adagio assai……………………………………………….14:31
III. Scherzo: Allegro vivace – Trio…………………………………………………5:32
IV. Finale: Allegro molto – Poco andante – Presto…………………..11:09
Total running time: 45:38
My Rating:
Recording quality: 2 (debilitating tape hiss, a sound drop off in Movement I)
Overall musicianship: 3
CD liner notes: 0 (no liner notes – boo! hiss!)
How does this make me feel: 3
I gave Monteux a “Huzzah!” rating the first time I heard him, and a resounding “Meh” the second time.
This time…I’m back to “Meh.”
The tape hiss sounds like rainfall. And 1:50 into the first movement, the sound shifts from right to left (in other words, it drops out of the right channel) and then back again at the 2:00 mark. That, plus the tape hiss takes me out of the performance.
On top of that, the tempo seems remarkably brisk – so much so that the entire performance clocks in at just 45:38, the shortest of the previous 13 conductors. In fact, it’s 10 minutes shorter than Barenboim’s interpretation, and two minutes shorter than Cluytens’ 47:32.
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m no musicologist. I don’t know a tempo from a tempura. All I know is how music sounds and how it makes me feel.
This performance seems rushed. And it sounds terrible.
And yet I do understand how important this recording is. I don’t suppose there are many Pierre Monteux recordings in existence. And he was a highly regarding conductor who also founded the Monteux School and Music Festival in Maine.
When I ignore the tape hiss, the sound problems, the lack of liner notes, and…
Well, I can’t ignore all those things.
But I do understand this is a rare performance. And I appreciate that it exists.