Ernest Ansermet: The Mono Years Box Set

As a conductor, philosopher, mathematician and composer, Ernest Ansermet occupied an exceptional position in the world of music. At the frontier of modernity, he offered up recordings of music by several composers whom he counted among his friends: Debussy, Ravel, Roussel and Stravinsky but also Honegger, Frank Martin, Bartók and Prokofiev – all of whom are represented in this collection of recordings made for Decca between 1929 and 1955. The collection opens with a recording of six of Handel’s Op. 6 Concerti Grossi made with a specially formed band of London musicians, the ‘Decca String Orchestra’ in 1929, the year in which the label was founded. Ansermet returned to the studio to record for the label from 1946 and from then on became one of its most frequently recorded conductors. Fortunately, the music of his friend Igor Stravinsky is strongly represented in this collection. Of other composers Ansermet knew personally, several landmark recordings of works by Maurice Ravel are significant. 1952 was a particularly busy year for the conductor and his Orchestre de la Suisse Romande - with recordings of Handel, Prokofiev as well as his famous interpretation of Debussy's "Pelléas et Mélisande". An orchestral version of Mussorgsky's two-minute "Gopak" was recorded as the last work in this collection. The stereo recording from 1955 was only available as a test pressing - this box presents it as a veritable world premiere.

Boxset Dimensions: 6.1" x 4.8" x 6.4"

Tracklist: 
CD 1
1. HANDEL Concerti Grossi Op.6 Nos. 2, 3, 4, 6, 10, 12

CD 2
1. VIVALDI Bassoon Concerto RV 481, HANDEL Organ Concertos HWV 289 & 290, MARCELLO Oboe Concerto

CD 3
1. MOZART Symphony No. 38 “Prague”, Serenade No. 10, Exsultate, jubilate

CD 4
1. HAYDN Symphony No. 101 “Clock”, SCHUMANN Symphony No. 1 “Spring”, SCHUMANN Genoveva Overture

CD 5
1. SCHUMANN Piano Concerto ∙ Cello Concerto, TCHAIKOVSKY Rococo Variations

CD 6
1. MUSSORGSKY Pictures at an Exhibition [1947], RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Scheherazade

CD 7
1. RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Capriccio espagnole, The Golden Cockerel – Introduction, Bridal procession & Suite, MUSSORGSKY Gopak (Sorochintsy Fair – mono & stereo)

CD 8
1. VILLA-LOBOS Piano Concerto No. 1, CHOPIN Piano Concerto No. 2

CD 9
1. RAVEL Alborada del gracioso [1947], DEBUSSY La Mer [1947], RAVEL La Valse [1947] · Shéhérazade, DEBUSSY Petite suite

CD 10
1. ROSSINI/RESPIGHI La Boutique fantasque, FALLA El sombrero de tres picos, RAVEL 3 Poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé

CD 11
1. DEBUSSY Images, RAVEL L’Heure espagnole

CDs 12–13
1. DEBUSSY Pelléas et Mélisande

CD 14
1. RAVEL Piano Concerto in G, Piano Concerto in D for the Left Hand

CD 15
1. DEBUSSY Nocturnes · RAVEL Rapsodie espagnole, Valses nobles et sentimentales · Le Tombeau de Couperin

CD 16
1. RAVEL Daphnis et Chloé

CD 17
1. DEBUSSY La Mer [1951], Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, RAVEL Ma mère l’Oye Suite · Alborada del gracioso [1951], PROKOFIEV March from The Love for Three Oranges Suite, STRAVINSKY Circus Polka

CD 18
1. PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 6, BIZET Symphony in C

CD 19
1. PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 1 “Classical”, GLINKA Ruslan and Lyudmila Overture, BORODIN In the Steppes of Central Asia, MUSSORGSKY Night on the Bare Mountain, DEBUSSY Jeux · Six Épigraphes antiques

CD 20
1. BARTÓK Piano Concerto No.3, PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No.3, MARTIN Violin Concerto

CD 21
1. MARTIN Petite Symphonie Concertante, STRAVINSKY Divertimento from Le Baiser de la fée, SAINT-SAËNS Danse macabre · Le Rouet d’Omphale, CHABRIER Joyeuse marche · España, RAVEL Pavane pour une infante défunte

CD 22
1. MUSSORGSKY Pictures at an Exhibition [1953], RAVEL La Valse [1953] · Boléro · HONEGGER Pacific 231, DUKAS L’Apprenti sorcier

CD 23
1. BLOCH Schelomo, Voice in the Wilderness, OBOUSSIER Antigone, GEISER Symphony No.1

CDs 24–26
1. STRAVINSKY Petrushka (1911) [1946] · Firebird Suite (1910/1919) [1946], Symphony of Psalms, Petrushka (1911) [1949] · The Rite of Spring, Firebird Suite (1919) [1950], Oedipus Rex