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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BRAHMS Violin Concerto

Recorded in 1948
Duration 37:11

Ossy Renardy, violin
Concertgebouw Orchestra
conducted by Charles Münch

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BACH Violin Sonatas 1 & 2
BACH Concerto for Two Violins
HANDEL Violin Sonata No. 4
TARTINI Violin Sonata in G
TARTINI Violin Concerto in D minor
MOZART Violin Sonata No. 21
MOZART Violin Concerto No. 4
short works by BACH, EXAUDET, TARTINI, VERACINI

BEETHOVEN Violin Concerto
WEBER Violin Sonata No. 3
PAGANINI Caprices
SCHUBERT Rondo

MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto
BRAHMS Violin Concerto
BRAHMS Violin Sonata No. 3
Music by Berlioz, Hubay, Elgar, Kreisler, Dvořák, Chabrier, Rimsky-Korsakov, Falla

WARLOCK Capriol Suite
PROKOFIEV Violin Concerto
BARTÓK Hungarian Folk Tunes
BARTÓK Romanian Folk Dances
IVES Violin Sonata No. 4
BLOCH Violin Concerto
music by Debussy, Ravel, Milhaud, Lie, Szymanowski, Scriabin, Stravinsky




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WARLOCK Capriol Suite
PROKOFIEV Violin Concerto
BARTÓK Hungarian Folk Tunes
BARTÓK Romanian Folk Dances
IVES Violin Sonata No. 4
BLOCH Violin Concerto
music by Debussy, Ravel, Milhaud, Lie, Szymanowski, Scriabin, Stravinsky

Studio recordings, 1926-46
Total duration: 2hr 4:59

Joseph Szigeti, violin
Nikita Magaloff, Kurt Ruhrseitz, Béla Bartók, Andor Foldes, piano
London Philharmonic Orchestra
conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham
Philharmonia Orchestra
conducted by Constant Lambert
Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire
conducted by Charles Munch