The underrated French conductor, 100
OrchestrasThe career of Georges Pretre – who would have turned 100 this week – was unconventional, to say the least.
He won his greatest respect and affection in Vienna, where he conducted the symphony orchestra and impressed with an unfailing elegance and insouciance. In France, he was music director of the two Paris opera houses in the 1970s but he was passed over for modernist and foreign candidates when it came to building the Bastille.
Elsewhere, although he conducted numerous times at Covent Garden and the Met, he is remembered, if at all, for his recordings with Maria Callas who trusted him as she trusted few men with sticks.
Pretre’s other achievement was his involvement with Francis Poulenc, whose music he upheld for two generations when it was going badly out of fashion.
Gorgeous Georges Pretre died aged 92 in January 2017.
I well remember hearing Pretre conduct Alpine Symphony with the Vienna Symphony, in the Musikverein in 1994/5. ‘Elegance’ is indeed the word, but also ‘humanity’. Even by the typically lyrical and ‘human’ standards of Viennese orchestral performance, Pretre really made the piece all about the human condition, of struggle against adversity and respect for nature, and not the usual ‘festival of orchestral excerpts’ that many performances of this music don’t get beyond. This was one of the most memorable Strauss performances I’ve ever heard — for me it redefined what this music is supposed to mean.
The Austrian the German the Italian loved him never the French! There was always something missing in the press also who talked or wrote about him not in a nice way with condescension. important also to remember that he came not from a rich family from North of France and that he always talked about the importance of when he worked at Marseille opera after WWII.
Hardly underrated; he had a stellar career and his discography is huge; he conducted in the greatest opera houses and concert halls and I see that he won several prestigious awards: Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, Grand Officier of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic,
Europa Prize, Honorary Conductor of the Vienna Symphony Victoire de la Musique Award.
I bet there are many conductors who would be thrilled to be ‘underrated’ in the samed way.
So, who underrated him please?
I have his recording of the Poulenc Gloria (with Rosanna Carteri) and the Concerto for Organ, Strings and Tympani (with Maurice Durufle at the Organ) on Angel LP S35953 – a sound spectacular!
Neither was Jean Martinon given his due. His centenary was, I think, unmarked. It’s always time to discover his own compositions, too.
Indeed. His time in Chicago – between the huge peaks of Reiner and Solti – is often treated as some kind of low point. But based on the dozen or so recordings they made – Nielsen 4 in particular – it was a rather successful partnership. Lots of interesting concert recordings have come out, too.
In my opinion, the C.S.O. never sounded more musical. Check out the CD’s worth of Ravel that Martinon recorded on RCA in Chicago.
I knew a double bass player that played in Chicago during the Martinon period that was full of praise for him. He said he lightened up the texture of the orchestra and introduced them to a lot of new repertoire. Some stalwarts, among whom was Ray Still, were however strongly opposed to him. According to Janos Starker who premiered the piece, Martinon’s cello concerto should be part of the standard repertoire.
Best Hansel & Gretel, too.
After Kleiber (1989 and 1992) and Karajan (in 1987), Georges conducted two of the best New Year’s Concerts from Vienna – magical stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJKr1kQ6tt4
No score either…!
A fact : it’s not normal that there’s no big opera or concert-hall important in France who have his name. A shame. No other word for this fact. The only French who conducted at the Waldbühne and at the new year concert. The next one will be in… Maybe he was not enough a good polician like Boulez… Today when I see Petrenko there’s something of Pretre.
Which Petrenko, Vassily or Kirill?
Kirill
Kirill when I saw à concert of Kirill in front of me I said to my self that it was not à copy but there was something about Prêtre in the mood and the smile
What about the interpretive approach?
I have cherished Pretre’s Poulenc recordings since I first encountered them as a teenager.
He recorded a powerful Rachmaninoff Third with Weissenberg and the Chicago SO in 1968 for RCA; a far better recording than the pianist’s second recording of this work, with Bernstein and a French orchestra in 1979 for EMI. I saw him conduct a memorable Mahler 8 with the Vienna Symphony in Vienna during the summer of 1989, the only time I was able to see him conduct.
His PELLEAS at the Opera Comique for the centenary was wonderful (le Roux as Golaud) I was lucky to see it twice and the audience literally shouted their love for him
Amongst his many other talents, he was a brilliant operatic conductor whose recordings stand the test of time.
An amazing conductor. Unforgettable Bruckner 8 in Vienna in 2008, among many other.
Well, taste is highly individual, but I heard a recording from that cycle of concerts and to my ears the performance missed Bruckner’s 8th by many miles. I do otherwise like Pretre as a conductor in other repertoire.
I’m glad you had a better experience with Pretre’s B8 than I did.
Instead of measured awkwardness, Pretre brought a true ‘joie de vivre’ to the Vienna New Year’s concerts. No wonder his Poulenc recordings are getting reissued on EMI. On the flip side, he was a pretty darn good Mahler conductor as well
Always enjoyed playing with George Pretre in Europe. Intense music maker and expressive conductor. He could be a bit of a prickly pear, however.
In the pantheon of 20th Century conductors, Georges Pretre is still legendary among those who know.