Ernest Ansermet
For 50 years he directed an orchestra that was second-rate in tone and technique, yet Ernest Ansermet drew performances from it that cut right to the heart of the music. A musician of catholic taste, Ansermet was a reliable, insightful interpreter of composers from Mozart to Martin. His recordings in the 1950s and 1960s with the Suisse Romande Orchestra, which he founded, retain strong interest for collectors who value nuance over tonal sheen. These recordings are of especial interest as they provide a link to composers active in Paris in the early twentieth century, with whom Ansermet was closely associated.
As a child, he studied math with his father, a teacher, and music with his mother. Ansermet's early training seemed to add up to a career in mathematics; he specialized in that subject at Lausanne University, graduating in 1903. Ansermet served as a professor of mathematics from 1905-1909. But during this time his interest in music only increased; he kept an eye trained on the technique of local conductors, and took courses in music with Alexandre Denéréaz, Otto Barblan, and Ernest Bloch. Ansermet sought further advice on conducting from Felix Mottl in Munich and Artur Nikisch in Berlin, then concentrated mainly on teaching himself the art of the baton.
His first professional efforts were leading the summer Kursaal concerts in Montreux (1912-1914), and conducting symphonic concerts in Geneva (1915-1918). In 1918 he organized the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Geneva, from the start performing a substantial amount of contemporary French and Russian music. Ansermet befriended many of the great progressive composers of the time, especially Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, and Igor Stravinsky. Through Stravinsky, Ansermet met Serge Diaghilev and was appointed principal conductor of the latter's Ballets Russes, touring with the company to Paris, London, Italy, Spain, South America, and the United States. During a 1916 tour Ansermet made his first recordings with the Ballets Russes orchestra -- the beginning of a half century of making intriguing records with less-than-stellar ensembles. Through his association with the Ballets Russes, Ansermet was able to premiere many of the period's most important dance scores, including Falla's Three-Cornered Hat, Prokofiev's The Buffoon, Satie's Parade, and Stravinsky's Pulcinella. As an extra-curricular wartime diversion, on September 28, 1918, Ansermet premiered Stravinsky's L'Histoire du soldat in Geneva.
He developed the reputation of -- in the words of Nicholas Slonimsky -- "a scholarly and progressive musician capable of fine interpretations of both classical and modern works." Although the Suisse Romande Orchestra, with which he recorded for Decca in the 1950s and 1960s, could be criticized for its wiry strings and sour woodwinds, the group delivered to Ansermet highly accurate performances notable for their clear textures and delicate timbral balances.
Ansermet was, not surprisingly, a gifted conductor of Classical-era music, but he had little opportunity to record it. He is best remembered for his sui generis recordings of the music of his French contemporaries Debussy, Ravel, and Roussel, and his Swiss compatriots Honegger and Martin. But Ansermet was also a strong champion of such other contemporary composers as Bartók and Britten, premiering the latter's opera The Rape of Lucretia. He retired from conducting in 1967, to the end performing and committing to disc such rarities as Magnard's Symphony No. 4.
Ansermet's compositions include a symphonic poem, Feuilles de printemps; he also orchestrated Debussy's Six épigraphes antiques, among other pieces. His publications include Le Geste du chef d'orchestre (1943) and Les Fondements de la musique dans la conscience humaine (1961), in which he used mathematics to discredit 12-tone and other advanced compositional techniques.
© TiVo
Artistas semelhantes
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Wagner : Extracts from Lohengrin, Siegfried, Parsifal
Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Classical - Lançado por Decca Music Group Ltd. em 26 de mai. de 2008
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Martin: Concerto For 7 Wind Instruments, Etudes, Petite Symphonie Concertante
Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Classical - Lançado por Decca Music Group Ltd. em 1 de jan. de 1990
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 3 in E Major, Sz. 119 & Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major, Op. 26
Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet, Julius Katchen
Concertos - Lançado por Radio Tower Records em 10 de out. de 2014
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Prokofiev: Violin Concertos Nos.1-2, Piano Concerto No.3
Ruggiero Ricci, Julius Katchen, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Concertos - Lançado por Decca Music Group Ltd. em 10 de abr. de 2009
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ravel Ma Mère l'Oye Suite
Ernest Ansermet, L'Orchestre da la Suisse Romande
Classical - Lançado por Mangora Classical em 5 de jul. de 2016
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart Coronation Concerto, Liszt concerto No. 2 and De Falla
Robert Casadeus, Ernest Ansermet
Classical - Lançado por Mangora Classical em 16 de fev. de 2016
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
LP Pure, Vol. 41: Ansermet Conducts Stravinsky (Historical Recordings)
Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Classical - Lançado por Archiphon em 17 de ago. de 2018
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Ernest Arsermet Conducts Ballet Music (Recorded 1949-1950)
London Symphony Orchestra, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Classical - Lançado por SOMM Recordings em 18 de jun. de 2002
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ernest Ansermet Collection, Vol. 6 : Symphonie fantastique (Berlioz) - Liszt & Wagner
Ernest Ansermet, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Symphonic Music - Lançado por RTS Radio Télévision Suisse - Evasion Music em 12 de out. de 2017
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten: Les Illuminations, Op. 18 - Falla: 7 Canciones Populares Españolas
Suzanne Danco, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Lançado por Cascavelle em 30 de jun. de 1992
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn: Clock Symphony; Bizet: Symphony in C
Ernest Ansermet, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Classical - Lançado por Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. em 8 de jun. de 2018
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schumann: Works for Piano (Live)
Clara Haskil, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Classical - Lançado por Andromeda em 27 de jan. de 2010
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: 3 Symphonies
Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Classical - Lançado por Decca Music Group Ltd. em 1 de jan. de 2001
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Isaac Stern, Vol. 10 (Live)
Isaac Stern, Ernest Ansermet, Sir John Pritchard, Myra Hess, Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Lançado por DOREMI em 5 de nov. de 2021
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Offenbach, Gounod, Rossini/Respighi
Royal Opera House Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Classical - Lançado por Decca Music Group Ltd. em 1 de jan. de 2013
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinski - Françaix
Full Operas - Lançado por INA Mémoire vive em 21 de jun. de 2002
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Anatoly Lyadov - Baba Yaga, Kikimora, Eight Russian Folksongs (1954) / Mily Balakirev - Thamar (1954)
Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Classical - Lançado por Classical Moments em 26 de nov. de 2012
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
French Night: The Music of Debussy, Honegger, Dukas & Saint-Saëns
Ernest Ansermet, L'Orchestre De La Suise Romande, Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire
Classical - Lançado por Jube Classic em 3 de dez. de 2021
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Ernest Ansermet conducts Bártok, Stravinsky and Debussy live
NBC Symphony Orchestra, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Classical - Lançado por Archipel em 7 de abr. de 2023
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ansermet conducts Ravel (Ernest Ansermet Edition, Vol. 4 - Paris, 1947)
Suzanne Danco, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire
Classical - Lançado por XXI Music em 20 de jul. de 2018
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
LP Pure, Vol. 14: Ansermet Conducts Mussorgsky & Liszt
Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Classical - Lançado por Archiphon em 5 de ago. de 2014
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo