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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De Falla: L'amour sorcier (Ballet Version, Mono Version)
Marina De Gabarain, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1960
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Prokofiev, Glinka & Borodin: Musique symphonique (Mono Version)
Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1962
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Delibes: Extraits de Coppélia (Mono Version)
Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1958
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Rimsky-Korsakov: Shéhérazade, Op. 35 (Mono Version)
Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, Ernest Ansermet, Pierre Nerini
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1962
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Prokofiev, Glinka, Borodin & Mussorgsky: Musique symphonique (Mono Version)
Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, Ernest Ansermet
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1954
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bizet: Suite No. 1 from L'Arlésienne, Excerpts (Mono Version)
Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1959
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Les noces & Symphonie de psaumes (Mono Version)
Hugues Cuenod, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1962
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Fauré & Debussy: Pièces orchestrales (Stereo Version)
Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1962
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Symphonies (Stereo Version)
Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1962
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Martin: Petite symphonie concertante - Stravinsky: Divertimento (Mono Version)
Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet, Pierre Jamet
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1952
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Honegger: Une cantate de Noël & Symphonie pour cordes (Mono Version)
Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet, Choeur Pro Arte de Lausanne
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1963
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: La mer & Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune - Ravel: Rapsodie espagnole (Mono Version)
Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1958
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: La mer & Nocturnes (Mono Version)
Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1962
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Music By Rimsky-Korsakov (Mono Version)
Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1958
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Symphonies (Stereo Version)
Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Classical - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1962
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Le sacre du printemps (Mono Version)
Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Classical - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1958
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Falla, M.: Sombrero De 3 Picos (El) (The 3-Cornered Hat) / El Amor Brujo (Love, the Magician) (Excerpts) (Collins, Ansermet) (1950, 1952)
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Suzanne Danco, Anthony Collins, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Ballets - Released by Naxos Classical Archives on 1 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade; Sadko; May Night
London Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Monteux, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Ernest Ansermet
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 7 Feb 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Peter I. Tchaikovsky - Annyversary Edition, Vol. 8
Classical - Released by Documents 2 on 13 Dec 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Der Nussknacker (Ausschnitte) (Album of 1958)
Ernest Ansermet, Ernest Ansermet, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Pop - Released by Festive Music on 30 Nov 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
World's Greatest Ballet Hits, Vol. 7
Ernest Ansermet, Felix Slatkin, Boris Khaikin
Ballets - Released by Documents 2 on 13 Dec 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo