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Legendary performers again this weekend. This time it’s Martha Argerich accompanied by Ernest Bour and the Southwest German Radio Symphony, Baden-Baden in a studio concert from February 4, 1960.
On the bill is Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G.
I don’t think anything can be added to the already glowing assessments of Martha Argerich’s career. She is considered one of the greatest pianists of all time, has won just about every award possible, every accolade imaginable, performed with almost every orchestra in the world, at every concert hall in the world and continues to blaze new trails.
Ernest Bour, on the other hand may not ring a few bells, unless you are fastidious collector of early lps – Born in Thionville, Moselle (in north-eastern Lorraine, then part of Germany), Ernest Bour studied at both the University and the Conservatoire of Strasbourg. His conducting teachers included Fritz Münch and Hermann Scherchen.
Perhaps his most heard recording is of Ligeti’s Atmospheres with the Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra aka Sinfonieorchester des Südwestfunks Baden-Baden heard on the soundtrack to 2001: A Space Odyssey.
After serving as chorus master for the radio choruses of Geneva and Strasbourg, he was appointed conductor of the Orchestre de Mulhouse in 1941. In 1950, he became conductor of the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra and in 1955 of the Strasbourg Opera House, where he had conducted the premiere of Delannoy’s Puck in 1949. He was principal conductor of the SWF Symphony Orchestra[1] in Baden-Baden from 1964 to 1979. He conducted the European premiere of Berio’s Sinfonia during the 1969 Donaueschingen Festival by the Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra. From 1976 until 1987, he was permanent guest conductor of The Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra located in the VARA radio headquarters in Hilversum.
Bour’s repertoire was marked by a concentration on contemporary music. World premières he presided over included works by Bussotti, Ferneyhough, Górecki, Ligeti, Rihm, Stockhausen and Xenakis, and he gave the French premières of Hindemith’s Symphony Mathis der Maler and Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress and the European premiere of Susman’s Trailing Vortices. His recordings ranged from music of François Couperin to André Jolivet.
Bour died in Strasbourg, aged 88.
Perfect accompanist in Ernest Bour to the perfect pianist in Martha Argerich – life is fantastic.
Enjoy.
