Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
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
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Falla: Nights in the Gardens of Spain / Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2
Alicia de Larrocha, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Sergiu Comissiona
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 2 Dec 1971
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky, Ravel, Respighi: Orchestral Works
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Classical - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 1 Jan 1958
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Petrushka
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Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1955
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grieg: Peer Gynt (Version française)
Lambert Wilson, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Viviana Aliberti, Eörs Kisfaludy
Classical - Released by AEON on 1 Feb 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bloch: Schelomo, B. 39 - Dutilleux: Tout un monde lointain - Hommage à Armin Jordan
François Guye, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Armin Jordan
Classical - Released by Cascavelle on 9 Aug 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Symphony No.9, Overtures, Grosse Fugue
Dame Joan Sutherland, Norma Procter, Anton Dermota, Arnold Van Mill, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 4 Aug 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky : le lac des cygnes (Mono Version)
Ernest Ansermet, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1960
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
De Falla: Le Tricorne & Interlude et Danse extraits de "La Vie brève" (Stereo Version)
Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet, Teresa Berganza
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky; The Stone Flower; Lieutenant Kijé etc.
Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Charles Dutoit, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Silvio Varviso
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 2 Dec 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Glazunov: The Seasons; Two Concert Waltzes; Stenka Razin
Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 2003
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Conductor's Gallery, Vol. 12: Ernest Ansermet
Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Classical - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 25 Aug 2023
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Fables de La Fontaine (Vladimir Cosma)
Vladimir Cosma, Lambert Wilson, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Musical Theatre - Released by Larghetto on 26 Nov 2009
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert: Mass No. 6 in E-Flat Major, D. 950
Choeur Pro Arte de Lausanne, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Armin Jordan
Classical - Released by Cascavelle on 1 Jan 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
One Century of Music: Premier siècle (Live)
Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Classical - Released by PENTATONE on 18 Jan 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Suite for Orchestra No. 3; Suite for Orchestra No. 4 ‘Mozartiana’ (Ruggiero Ricci: Complete Decca Recordings, Vol. 9)
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Classical - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 1 Jan 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Blank: Reflecting Black
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Classical - Released by AEON on 24 Feb 2015
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: 4 Ernste Gesänge - Duparc: 3 Mélodies - Ravel: Don Quichotte à Dulcinée - 5 Mélodies Populaires Grecques - Poulenc: 6 Chansons Villageoises - Vellones: 5 Epitaphes (Live)
Pierre Mollet, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Cascavelle on 30 Jun 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Petrushka, Apollon Musagète & Circus Polka
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Classical - Released by Chandos on 1 Oct 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Essential Stravinsky
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Symphonies - Released by Chandos on 1 Jul 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grieg: Peer Gynt (English Version)
Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Alex Jennings, Haydn Gwynne, Sir Derek Jacobi
Classical - Released by AEON on 15 Oct 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande / Ataulfo Argenta spielen: Peter Tschaikowsky: Symphonie Nr. 4, Op. 36
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Concertos - Released by Classico Ivano on 5 Dec 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo