Charles Munch's stunning account of Daphnis et Chloe first appeared on mono HMV in September 1956 (readers with long memories may recall the handsome reproduction of Boucher's A Shepherd piping to a Shepherdess on the cover). There was a later account from the early 1960s but this did not possess the ecstatic quality of the present version. Although the 1959 Monteux version with the LSO had far superior Decca recording to commend it, I succumbed more readily to the heady intoxication, the dazzling richness of colour and virtuosity of this present performance. (I have it in both its original mono form and the stereo reissue, and can thus vouch for the superiority of the present transfer.) Even those who admire the Dutoit (Decca) and Martinon (EMI) accounts, my preferred newer recordings, should sample it, though the sound does not quite have the bloom or openness we expect nowadays. Nor, to be absolutely fair, in ''Lever du jour'' does Munch surpass the magic of Karajan's 1964 DG recording or the Ormandy Philips and RCA versions (both nla). Having said that, I should add that it comes pretty close and is still pretty marvellous. Elsewhere the playing is altogether dazzling as, for example, in Chloe's Dance of supplication and the appearance of Pan (tracks 15 and 16).
The Classical Catalogue lists two recordings by Munch of the second suite from Roussel's Bacchus et Ariane, both from the 1960s, but I can't imagine that they (or for that matter any other) can match the virtuosity of this 1952 account. The Boston orchestra were still in peak condition (Koussevitzky's reign was fresh in their memory) and although the quality of the mono sound calls for some tolerance (it is a little cramped), the playing is electrifying.'