Sir Colin Davis (1927-2013) was an English conductor, one of the major British musicians of the later twentieth century. He became especially associated with Mozart, Berlioz, Sibelius, Tippett and the classical and Romantic repertory.

Davis held important posts with Sadler’s Wells, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Opera House, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra. In the Pristine catalogue he appears in early concerto recordings with Peter Katin.

His conducting developed from youthful urgency into a broad, humane and deeply considered style. He had a particular gift for long paragraphs and orchestral breathing.

The recordings here catch an earlier Davis than the later grand old man of the podium. Even so, the line is already there: clear, musical, and quietly firm.