Die Weihe / Violin Concerto / Prelude

Montreux could capture the sultry, yet elegant, dance-like character of the music of the French impressionists in particular,

to such a degree that on 12 October, during the first subscription concert of the 1950-1951 season, he breathed new life into

Claude Debussy's "Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune", considered in the 1950s to be the epitome of all French twentiethcentury

music. In addition to being a French specialist, Monteux was an all-rounder, as is well attested by the huge number of

works by classical, romantic, and early twentieth-century composers that he conducted with the Concertgebouw Orchestra.

Brahms's Violin Concerto and Beethoven's rarely performed "Die Weihe des Hause", which flanked Debussy's masterpiece on

12 October 1950, are examples of his broad sympathies. It should not be forgotten that Monteux knew the Orchestra inside

out and could galvanize it with just a few characteristic gestures. In Brahms's "Violin Concerto In D Major" Monteux found

an ideal collaborator in Nathan Milstein.