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.
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Stravinsky: Petrushka
Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1955
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 -
Les grands chefs d'orchestre du 20e siècle
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 4 Jun 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 -
Tchaikovsky: Suite for Orchestra No. 3; Suite for Orchestra No. 4 ‘Mozartiana’ (Ruggiero Ricci: Complete Decca Recordings, Vol. 9)
Ruggiero Ricci, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Classical - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 1 Jan 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 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)
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Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Cascavelle on 30 Jun 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Pulcinella Suite / Song of the Nightingale
Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Classical - Released by Music Manager on 7 Feb 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ernest Ansermet Collection, Vol. 1: Les illuminations et War Requiem, Pt. 1 de Britten
Ernest Ansermet, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
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16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ernest Ansermet Collection, Vol. 2: War Requiem, Pt. 2 de Britten et Sept Lieder de jeunesse de Berg
Ernest Ansermet, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Symphonic Music - Released by RTS Radio Télévision Suisse - Evasion Music on 16 Nov 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Great Conductors: Ernest Ansermet Conducts Claude Debussy & Maurice Ravel (Remastered 2016)
Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Coro della Radiotelevisione Svizzera, Ernest Ansermet
Classical - Released by Jube Classic on 21 Oct 2016
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Rimsky-Korsakov, N.: Scheherazade (Ansermet) (1948)
Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, Ernest Ansermet
Classical - Released by Naxos Classical Archives on 1 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Waltzes of the World (Mono Version)
Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1960
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy, Stravinsky, Ravel & Prokofiev: Pièces orchestrales (Mono Version)
Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Classical - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1952
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: La belle au bois dormant, Extracts (Mono Version)
Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1960
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy, C.: Nocturnes / Ravel, M.: Rapsodie espagnole (Suisse Romande Orchestra, Ansermet) (1951)
Studio chorus, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Classical - Released by Naxos Classical Archives on 1 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Falla: El Sombrero de Tres Picos / Debussy: Images
Ernest Ansermet, Teresa Berganza, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Classical - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 3 Oct 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Géza Anda and Clara Haskil play Bach and Bartók (Lucerne Festival Historic Performances Vol. 17) [Live]
Geza Anda, Clara Haskil, Schweizerisches Festspielorchester, Herbert von Karajan, Ferenc Fricsay, Ernest Ansermet
Concertos - Released by audite Musikproduktion on 4 Feb 2022
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: La Mer; Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune; Jeux
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Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 2013
The Qobuz Essential Discography24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo