Adrian Boult
Forced to leave the BBC in 1950 on reaching retirement age, Boult took on the chief conductorship of the LPO. The orchestra had declined from its peak of the 1930s, but under his guidance its fortunes were revived. He retired as its chief conductor in 1957, and later accepted the post of president. Although in the latter part of his career he worked with other orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and his former orchestra, the BBC Symphony, it was the LPO with which he was primarily associated, conducting it in concerts and recordings until 1978, in what was widely called his "Indian Summer".
Boult was known for his championing of British music. He gave the first performance of his friend Gustav Holst's The Planets, and introduced new works by, among others, Elgar, Bliss, Britten, Delius, Rootham, Tippett, Vaughan Williams and Walton. In his BBC years he introduced works by foreign composers, including Bartók, Berg, Stravinsky, Schoenberg and Webern. A modest man who disliked the limelight, Boult felt as comfortable in the recording studio as on the concert platform, making recordings throughout his career. From the mid-1960s until his retirement after his last sessions in 1978 he recorded extensively for EMI. As well as a series of recordings that have remained in the catalogue for three or four decades, Boult's legacy includes his influence on prominent conductors of later generations, including Colin Davis and Vernon Handley.
Adrian Boult
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Symphonies 1 - 9
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Old King Cole ‒ Ballet
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS English Folk Song Suite
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Norfolk Rhapsody No. 1
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Fantasia on Greensleeves
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Job ‒ A Masque for Dancing
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS The Wasps ‒ Aristophanic Suite
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Partita for Double String Orchestra
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Studio recordings, 1952-1958
Isobel Baillie, soprano
Margaret Ritchie, soprano
John Cameron, baritone
John Gielgud, speaker
London Philharmonic Choir
London Philharmonic Orchestra
conducted by Sir Adrian Boult
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ELGAR Cello Concerto
BRAHMS Cello Sonata No. 2
plus music by Fauré, Godard, Granados, Saint-Saëns
Studio recordings, 1926-1945
Total duration: 72:42
Pau Casals, cello
Mieczyslaw Horszowski, piano
Nicolai Mednikov, piano
BBC Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Sir Adrian Boult
DOHNÁNYI Sonata for Violin and Piano
DOHNÁNYI Four Rhapsodies
DOHNÁNYI Piano Concerto No. 2
Studio recordings, 1951-56
Total duration: 69:57
Ernő Dohnányi piano
Albert Spalding violin
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Sir Adrian Boult conductor
Dohnányi Variations on a Nursery Tune
Haydn Andante and Variations in F minor
Beethoven Andante favori
Beethoven Sonata No. 17 in D minor (“Tempest”)
Schumann Kinderszenen.
Studio Recordings · 1951/56
Total duration: 79:18
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Sir Adrian Boult, conductor
DOHNÁNYI Variations on a Nursery Tune
RACHMANINOV Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Recorded 1959
Total duration: 45:49
Julius Katchen, piano
London Philharmonic Orchestra
conductor Sir Adrian Boult
RACHMANINOV Piano Concerto No. 1
RACHMANINOV Piano Concerto No. 2
LITOLFF Concerto Symphonique No. 4
Recorded 1958/59
Total duration: 66:22
Peter Katin, piano
London Philharmonic Orchestra
New Symphony Orchestra of London
Sir Adrian Boult, conductor
Colin Davis, conductor