These excellent stereo broadcast recordings of Charles Munch with the Boston Symphony Orchestra were drawn from the extensive tape archives of a major private collector and film director. The tapes were in excellent condition and sound quality throughout is superb.
In both cases the broadcasts captured one of several performances that season: the Sibelius Violin Concerto was played by Ruggiero Ricci and the Boston Symphony three times in January 1960, with another four performances to follow in Connecticut, New York and at Tanglewood later that year.
Boston concert-goers had four opportunities in 1959 to hear Munch conduct the Strauss Symphonia Domestica, a work he also conducted with the BSO in three concerts elsewhere that year. It was something of a surprise return for the Symphonia - Munch hadn't conducted it since 1949 until this revival a decade later. As you'll see from the review reproduced here on our website, it was very well received indeed!
