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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30 albums
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BACH Orchestral Suite No. 3, Partita No. 3
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 8, 2 Overtures
GLUCK Alceste - Overture
MOZART Symphony No. 41, 'Jupiter', 2 Overtures
SCHUBERT Symphony No. 9, 'Great'

Studio recordings, 1932-1937
Total duration: 2hr 34:13

BBC Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Sir Adrian Boult

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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, 1953-1956
Total duration: 2hr 32:22

London Philharmonic Orchestra
conducted by Sir Adrian Boult

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ARNOLD Eight English Dances
BAX Tintagel
ELGAR Three Bavarian Dances; Chansons de Nuit & Matin
HOLST The Perfect Fool, Ballet Suites
BUTTERWORTH A Shropshire Lad; The Banks of Green Willow
WALTON Siesta

Recorded 1954
Total duration: 79:43

London Philharmonic Orchestra
conducted by Sir Adrian Boult

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ELGAR Symphony No. 1
ELGAR Symphony No. 2
ELGAR 'Enigma' Variations
ELGAR Nursery Suite

Studio recordings, 1944-1955
Total duration:  2hr 34:20

London Philharmonic Orchestra
BBC Symphony Orchestra

conducted by Sir Adrian Boult

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ELGAR Symphony No. 1

Recorded in 1949
Duration: 48:01

London Philharmonic Orchestra
conductor Sir Adrian Boult

NB. A more recent (2022) transfer of this recording can be found on PASC653

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HOLST The Planets
Recorded in 1945
Duration 46:45

BBC Symphony Orchestra,
Conductor: Sir Adrian Boult