Pierre Monteux (1875 – 1964) was one of the greatest French conductors of the twentieth century, a fine musician admired throughout Europe and the United States, whose career extended to almost seventy years. He reached international pre-eminence when, as music director of Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets russes, he conducted the world premiere of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring in Paris in May 1913. Within a few years, he was conducting regularly in the United States and, after the end of World War I, in Europe. In the USA, he was music director of the Boston Symphony and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras from 1919 to 1924 and from 1936 to 1952 respectively, and in this unique collection of finely restored broadcast performances of Russian music we can experience again the magic and virtuosity which the universally loved maestro invariably brought to his performances. A fabulous record.

Pierre Monteux (1875-1964) was one of the greatest French conductors of the twentieth-century, his career extending to almost 70 years, a fine musicians admired throughout Europe and the United States. He first came to international pre-eminence when he conducted – as music director of Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes – the world premiere of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring in Paris in May 1913. Within a few years, he was conducting regularly in the United States and, after the end of World War I, in Europe as well. In the USA, he was music director of the Boston Symphony and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras from 1919-24 and 1936-52 respectively, and in this unique collection of finely-restored broadcast performances of Russian music under his direction we can experience again the magic and virtuosity which the universally-loved maestro invariably brought to his performances. A fabulous record.