Editing Pierre Monteux (section)

===Recordings===
{{Main|Pierre Monteux discography}}
{{Quote box |bgcolor=#F5F6CE |salign=left| quote =  You may give an excellently played, genuinely felt performance of a movement, but because the engineer is not satisfied because there is some rustling at one point, so you do it again and this time something else goes wrong. By the time you get a "perfect" take of the recording the players are bored, the conductor is bored, and the performance is lifeless and boring. ... I detest all my own records.| source = Monteux expressing his dislike of studio recording sessions, ''The Times'', March 1959.<ref name=times102>"Conductor of 102 Orchestras", ''The Times'', 31 March 1959, p. 11</ref>|align=right| width=300px}}

Monteux made a large number of recordings throughout his career. His first recording was as a [[viola|violist]] in "Plus blanche que la blanche hermine" from ''[[Les Huguenots]]'' by [[Giacomo Meyerbeer|Meyerbeer]] in 1903 for [[Pathé Records|Pathé]] with the tenor [[Albert Vaguet]].<ref>{{cite book|last= Giroud |first= Vincent |year= 2009|title=''Liner notes to'' Meyerbeer on Record 1899–1913 |location=Swarthmore, PA |publisher=Marston Records |oclc= 459789444}}</ref> It is possible that Monteux played in the Colonne Orchestra's 20 early cylinders recorded around 1906–07.<ref>Daouste, Raoul. Pierre Monteux and his records. Note for Cascavelle CD set VEL3037, 2002.</ref> His recording debut as a conductor was the first of his five recordings of ''The Rite of Spring'', issued in 1929,<ref>Canarina, pp. 325 and 328</ref> with the OSP, judged by Canarina to be indifferently played; recordings by Monteux of music by Ravel and Berlioz made in 1930 and 1931, Canarina believes, were more impressive. Stravinsky, who also recorded ''The Rite'' in 1929, was furious that Monteux had made a rival recording; he made vitriolic comments privately, and for some time his relations with Monteux remained cool.<ref>Walsh, Stephen. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1193520 "First Rites for Stravinsky"], ''The Musical Times'', Vol. 130, No. 1759 (September 1989), pp. 538–539 {{subscription}}</ref>

Monteux's final studio recordings were with the London Symphony Orchestra in works by Ravel at the end of February 1964.<ref>Discographical information in booklet for: Pierre Monteux&nbsp;– Decca and Philips Recordings 1956–1964 (475 7798). Decca Music Group Ltd, 2006.</ref> In the course of his career he recorded works by more than fifty composers.<ref>Canarina, pp. 321–326</ref>
In Monteux's lifetime it was rare for record companies to issue recordings of live concerts, although he would much have preferred it, he said, "if one could record in one take in normal concert-hall conditions".<ref name=times102/> Some live performances of Monteux conducting the Metropolitan Opera, and among others the San Francisco Symphony, Boston Symphony, BBC Symphony and London Symphony orchestras survive alongside his studio recordings, and some have been issued on compact disc.<ref>Achenbach, Andrew. "Orchestral Reissues", ''Gramophone'', May 2006, p. 83</ref> It has been argued that these reveal even more than his studio recordings "a conductor at once passionate, disciplined, and tasteful; one who was sometimes more vibrant than the Monteux captured in the studio, and yet, like that studio conductor, a cultivated musician possessing an extraordinary ear for balance, a keen sense of style and a sure grasp of shape and line."<ref>Frank, Mortimer H. "Review of CDs 'Sunday Evenings with Pierre Monteux'". ''[[Classic Record Collector]]'', Summer 1998, Number 13, pp. 102–105</ref>

Many of Monteux's recordings have remained in the catalogues for decades, notably his [[RCA Red Seal Records|RCA Victor]] recordings with the Boston Symphony and [[Chicago Symphony Orchestra|Chicago Symphony]] orchestras; [[Decca Records|Decca]] recordings with the Vienna Philharmonic; and Decca and [[Philips Records|Philips]] recordings with the LSO.<ref name=disco/> Of ''Manon'', one of his few opera recordings, Alan Blyth in ''Opera on Record'' states "Monteux had the music in his blood and here dispenses it with authority and spirit".<ref>Blyth, p. 483</ref>{{refn|group=n|The Naxos CD reissue included Monteux's spoken recollection of Massenet during rehearsals for a major Opéra-Comique revival, correcting the orchestra and singers.<ref>{{cite video|title= Manon: ''Reissue of 1955 recording''|medium= CD|publisher= Naxos|year= 2007|oclc= 299065498}}</ref>}} He can be heard rehearsing in the original LP issues of Beethoven's [[Symphony No. 3 (Beethoven)|''Eroica'' Symphony]] with the Concertgebouw Orchestra (Philips 835132 AY) and Beethoven's 9th with the London Symphony ([[Westminster Records|Westminster]], WST 234).<ref name=CRC34Canarina/>

Video recordings of Monteux are scarcer. He is seen conducting Berlioz's [[Roman Carnival Overture]] and [[Symphony No. 8 (Beethoven)|Beethoven's 8th symphony]] with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra,<ref>Potter, Tully. "Review of VAI and EMI DVDs", ''Classic Record Collector'', Autumn 2003, Number 34, pp. 61–62</ref> and Dukas' ''[[L'Apprenti sorcier]]'' with the London Symphony Orchestra in an "unshowy, deeply satisfying humane way".<ref>[[Benjamin Ivry|Ivry B]]. Review of EMI/IMG Classic Archive DVD. ''Classic Record Collector'', Winter 2004, Number 39, p. 64</ref>