Pierre Monteux - A 150th Anniversary Tribute

Information

• Claude Debussy - Images, L. 122
• Igor Stravinsky - Symphony of Psalms, K052
• Alex Nifosi remembers Pierre Monteux

Gerald Gover & Arthur Sandford, pianos

BBC Symphony Chorus & Orchestra

Pierre Monteux, conductor

Date: 2025

Label: SOMM Recordings

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SOMM Recordings celebrates the 150th anniversary of conductor Pierre Monteux with newly remastered live performances of Debussy’s Images pour orchestre and Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, recorded in 1961 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Expertly restored by Lani Spahr, whose audio work has earned acclaim from Gramophone and BBC Radio 3, these broadcasts capture Monteux’s late-life interpretations, rich in depth and personal insight. The release also includes a tribute from violinist Alex Nifosi, offering a fitting homage to one of the 20th century’s great French-American conductors and his enduring artistry.

Pierre Monteux (1875–1964) was a renowned French-American conductor, celebrated for his refined interpretations across ballet, opera, and symphonic music. Trained at the Paris Conservatory and initially a violist, he rose to prominence as conductor of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, premiering Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé. After serving in World War I, he conducted at the Metropolitan Opera and led the Boston Symphony. He later directed the Paris Symphony, revitalized the San Francisco Symphony, and from 1960 served as permanent conductor of the London Symphony. In 1943, he founded a famed conductor-training school in Hancock, Maine.

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