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. 

Tracklist:

CD 1
HANDEL Concerti Grossi Op.6 Nos. 2, 3, 4, 6, 10, 12 DSO
 
CD 2
VIVALDI Bassoon Concerto RV 481 Henri Helaerts
HANDEL Organ Concertos HWV 289 & 290 Jeanne Demessieux
MARCELLO Oboe Concerto Roger Reversy, OSR
 
CD 3
MOZART Symphony No. 38 “Prague”
Serenade No. 10 OSR
Exsultate, jubilate Janine Micheau; OSCC
 
CD 4
HAYDN Symphony No. 101 “Clock”
SCHUMANN Symphony No. 1 “Spring” OSR
SCHUMANN Genoveva Overture OSCC
 
CD 5
SCHUMANN Piano Concerto Dinu Lipatti ∙ Cello Concerto Maurice Gendron
TCHAIKOVSKY Rococo Variations Maurice Gendron, OSR
 
CD 6
MUSSORGSKY Pictures at an Exhibition [1947] LPO
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Scheherazade Pierre Nérini, OSCC
 
CD 7
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Capriccio espagnol
The Golden Cockerel – Introduction, Bridal procession & Suite
MUSSORGSKY Gopak (Sorochintsy Fair – mono & stereo) OSR
 
CD 8
VILLA-LOBOS Piano Concerto No. 1 Ellen Ballon, OSR
CHOPIN Piano Concerto No. 2 Ellen Ballon, LSO
 
CD 9
RAVEL Alborada del gracioso [1947]
DEBUSSY La Mer [1947] OSR
RAVEL La Valse [1947] · Shéhérazade Suzanne Danco
DEBUSSY Petite suite OSCC
 
CD 10
ROSSINI/RESPIGHI La Boutique fantasque LSO
FALLA El sombrero de tres picos Suzanne Danco
RAVEL 3 Poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé Suzanne Danco, OSR
 
CD 11
DEBUSSY Images
RAVEL L’Heure espagnole Michel Hamel, Suzanne Danco, Paul Derenne, Heinz Rehfuss, André Vessières, OSR
 
CDs 12–13
DEBUSSY Pelléas et Mélisande
Pierre Mollet, Heinz Rehfuss, André Vessières, Flore Wend, Suzanne Danco, Hélène Bouvier, Derrick Olsen, OSR
 
CD 14
RAVEL Piano Concerto in G
Piano Concerto in D for the Left Hand
(Jacqueline Blancard) [1949 & 1953] OSR
 
CD 15
DEBUSSY Nocturnes · RAVEL Rapsodie espagnole
Valses nobles et sentimentales · Le Tombeau de Couperin OSR
 
CD 16
RAVEL Daphnis et Chloé Geneva Motet Choir, OSR
 
CD 17
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 OSR
 
CD 18
PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 6
BIZET Symphony in C OSR
 
CD 19
PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 1 “Classical”
GLINKA Ruslan and Lyudmila Overture
BORODIN In the Steppes of Central Asia
MUSSORGSKY Night on the Bare Mountain OSCC
DEBUSSY Jeux · Six Épigraphes antiques OSR
 
CD 20
BARTÓK Piano Concerto No.3 (Julius Katchen)
PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No.3 (Julius Katchen)
MARTIN Violin Concerto (Wolfgang Schneiderhan) OSR
 
CD 21
MARTIN Petite Symphonie Concertante
(Pierre Jamet, Germaine Vaucher-Clerc, Doris Rossiaud)
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 OSR
 
CD 22
MUSSORGSKY Pictures at an Exhibition [1953] OSR
RAVEL La Valse [1953] · Boléro · HONEGGER Pacific 231
DUKAS L’Apprenti sorcier OSCC
 
CD 23
BLOCH Schelomo (Zara Nelsova)
Voice in the Wilderness (Zara Nelsova) LPO
OBOUSSIER Antigone (Elsa Cavelti)
GEISER Symphony No.1 OSR
 
CDs 24–26
STRAVINSKY
Petrushka (1911) [1946] · Firebird Suite (1910/1919) [1946]
Symphony of Psalms (London Philharmonic Choir) LPO
Petrushka (1911) [1949] · The Rite of Spring
Firebird Suite (1919) [1950]
Oedipus Rex (Ernst Haefliger, Hélène Bouvier, James Loomis,
André Vessières, Hugues Cuénod, Paul Pasquier) OSR