Anniversary,
Sir Neville Marriner
We wish the acclaimed English conductor, Sir Neville Marriner, a very happy ninetieth birthday today. Though his illustrious career has seen him at the helm of various prestigious orchestras throughout Europe and the US, Marriner is perhaps best-known for his association with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields chamber orchestra: he founded the ensemble in 1959 and has made a wealth of much-admired recordings with them, including repertoire ranging from Bach and Boccherini to Respighi and Krenek. He was made a CBE in 1979, and knighted six years later.
As he enters his tenth decade, Sir Neville continues to be active both in the studio and on the concert platform, with recent projects including a recording of Mozart Piano Concertos with Ingrid Jacoby and a performance of Elgar's Enigma Variations with the Academy at the Royal Festival Hall to kick off his birthday celebrations at the beginning of this month; there's also rumoured to be a Prom in the pipeline this summer!
Some of Sir Neville's greatest recordings
A lovely collection of English pastoral favourites here, including some of the finest Elgar string-playing on record as well as a glorious 'Lark Ascending' with Iona Brown; the Penguin Guide praised the Delius works as 'warm, tender and eloquent.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC
Marriner's collaboration with Alfred Brendel on the Mozart Piano Concertos during the 70s and early 80s still ranks as one of the greatest surveys of these works on disc; Imogen Cooper and the Labeque sisters join for the multi-keyboard works.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC
This collection of twentieth-century American works is paritcularly notable for the ASMF's unsentimental but shattering account of the famous Barber Adagio: 'Marriner's nobly restrained performance with the ASMF, which dates back to 1976, is still unsurpassed.' (Penguin Guide)
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC
Released just last year, this collection of wind concertos by Howard Blake features Marriner's son Andrew (co-principal clarinet of the London Symphony Orchestra) and came into being by a chance connection: Sir Neville and the composer share a hairdresser in West London!
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Including works by Britten, Handel and Mendelssohn and Sir Neville's own arrangement of Beethoven's Grosse Fuge in perofrmances from the 70s and 80s, this film was praised by BBC Music as 'a worthwhile reminder of [the ASMF's] length of service and the range of its founder.
Available Format: DVD Video
James Longstaffe - Head of Retail
