Charles Munch

Charles Munch

Charles Munch (born Charles Münch; 26 September 1891 – 6 November 1968) was an Alsacian symphonic conductor and violinist. Noted for his mastery of the French orchestral repertoire, he was best known as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Munch's discography is extensive, both in Boston on RCA Victor and at his various European posts and guest conducting assignments on various labels, including English Decca, EMI, Nonesuch, Erato and Auvidis-Valois.

He began making records in Paris before the war, for EMI. Munch then made a renowned series of Decca Full Frequency Range Recordings (FFRR) in the late 1940s. After several recordings with the New York Philharmonic for Columbia, Munch began making recordings for RCA Victor soon after his arrival in Boston as Music Director. These included memorable Berlioz, Honegger, Roussel, and Saint-Saëns tapings.

His first stereophonic recording with the Boston Symphony, in Boston's Symphony Hall in February 1954, was devoted to a complete version of The Damnation of Faust by Hector Berlioz and was made simultaneously in monaural and experimental stereophonic sound, although only the mono recording was released commercially. The stereo tape survives only fragmentarily. The monaural version of this recording was added to the Library of Congress's national registry of sound. Among his final recordings in Boston was a 1962 performance of César Franck's symphonic poem Le chasseur maudit.

Upon Munch's return to Paris, he made Erato disks with the Orchestre Lamoureux, and with the Orchestre de Paris he again recorded for EMI. He also made recordings for a number of other companies including Decca/London.

A number of Munch's recordings have been available continuously since their original releases, among them Saint-Saëns's Organ Symphony and Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe. RCA reissued Munch Conducts Berlioz in a multi-disc set, including all of their Munch recordings. BMG/Japan has issued two different editions of Munch's recordings on CD, 1998 and 2006. The latter was made up of 41 CDs and encompassed all but a handful of Munch recordings with the Boston Symphony. in 2016, SONY released all of Munch's Columbia and RCA recordings including performances by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and Philadelphia Orchestra. Many of these had never been officially released on compact disc.

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Charles Munch

Charles Munch

Charles Munch (born Charles Münch; 26 September 1891 – 6 November 1968) was an Alsacian symphonic conductor and violinist. Noted for his mastery of the French orchestral repertoire, he was best known as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Munch's discography is extensive, both in Boston on RCA Victor and at his various European posts and guest conducting assignments on various labels, including English Decca, EMI, Nones...

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15 albums
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CHOPIN Piano Concerto No. 2
R
AVEL Piano Concerto for the Left Hand
SAINT-SAËNS
Piano Concerto No. 4

Studio recordings, 1935 & 1939
Total duration: 71:43

Alfred Cortot, piano
Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire

Unnamed Orchestras

Charles Munch, 
conductor

John Barbirolli, conductor

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BEETHOVEN Violin Concerto
CHAUSSON  Poème
RAVEL Tzigane

Live broadcast recordings, 1947/49
Total duration: 77:17

Ginette Neveu. violin
Boston Symphony Orchestra   
conducted by Serge Koussevitzky
Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra of New York    
conducted by Charles Munch

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TANNHAUSER 'Dich Teure Halle'
DER FLIEGENDE HOLLANDER 'Jo ho ho hoe!'
GOTTERDAMMERUNG
Seigfried's funeral music and Brünnhilde's Immolation

Broadcast recording from 1955
Total duration: 38:1

Margaret Harshaw, soprano
Boston Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Charles Munch
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MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto
Recorded 1944, 1949 and 1959
Total duration: 73:01

Jascha Heifetz, violin
NBC Symphony Orchestra
conductor Arturo Toscanini
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
conductor Sir Thomas Beecham
Boston Symphony Orchestra
conductor Charles Munch

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SCHUMANN Symphony No. 1 in B-Flat, “Spring”
BRAHMS Symphony No. 4 in E Minor
Studio Recordings · 1950/51
Total duration: 72:06

Charles Munch
Boston Symphony Orchestra

 

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BEETHOVEN Gratulations-Menuet
SCHUBERT 
Symphony No. 2 in B-Flat
DEBUSSY 
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
BLOCH 
Schelomo
HAIEFF 
Symphony No. 2

Studio Recordings · 1949-58
Total duration: 79:45

Charles Munch
Boston Symphony Orchestra

Gregor Piatigorsky,
cello