Pierre Monteux, Maitre.(Books)

Pierre Monteux, Maitre

by John Canarina

Amadeus Press, 372 pp, $29.95

It's about time someone did this. The conductor's wife published two books about him, one ostensibly written by the family poodle. A volume about him was published in France--and only in French--in 1999. The author was Jean-Philippe Mousnier, who has often corresponded with us at ARG. But neither that book nor the ones by Doris Monteux said much of anything about his family life. Doris was Monteux's third wife, and the other two are acknowledged here, as well as his children.

And Mr Canarina has done the job right. We get a balanced picture of the man and the musician, though the biographer's task does require appreciation, and we get plenty of that, too. John Canarina knew Monteux for years and worked with him in the 60s. Monteux was not a controversial figure, so this could have been rather dull, but it's not. There are no salacious revelations. Perhaps some readers will not know that when he was a music director he could be pretty forceful and tough--the San Francisco years are described in pretty good detail here, with no whitewashing. But the reader really gets to know and like this man and to appreciate his even temper and sensible thinking time and again. How very rational he seems, how level-headed. An artist almost without temperament!

I saw Monteux only once--at Ravinia July 15, 1961. He conducted a great Sibelius 2, and it proved to be his last concert there. I knew many musicians who played under him, and they all liked him. He often writes to his wife about other conductors--comments never intended for public consumption but now revealed. Things like "Szell had his first rehearsal Friday, and the orchestra hates him. They call him Hitler!" and about Bernstein, "He conducts like an ...