Adrian Boult

Adrian Boult
Sir Adrian Cedric Boult, CH (8 April 1889 – 22 February 1983) was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family, he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London for the Royal Opera House and Sergei Diaghilev's ballet company. His first prominent post was conductor of the City of Birmingham Orchestra in 1924. When the British Broadcasting Corporation appointed him director of music in 1930, he established the BBC Symphony Orchestra and became its chief conductor. The orchestra set standards of excellence that were rivalled in Britain only by the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO), founded two years later.

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.
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Adrian Boult

Adrian Boult

Sir Adrian Cedric Boult, CH (8 April 1889 – 22 February 1983) was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family, he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London for the Royal Opera House and Sergei Diaghilev's ballet company. His first prominent post was conductor of the City of Birmingham Orchestra in 1924. When the British Broadcasting Corporation appointed him directo...
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31 albums
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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

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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

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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

    Ernö Dohnányi, piano
    Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

    Sir Adrian Boult,
    conductor
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    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

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    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