“You have to have the score in your head, not your head in the score.”

Legendary conductor Pierre Monteux - musical director of numerous world premieres and influential mentor for many influential bandmasters of the 20th and 21st century - is best known for his recordings of French and Russian music. This selection of 12 original albums and bonus tracks from the years 1941 to 1962 includes important recordings of his mature oeuvre, including three albums that the renowned British magazine Gramophone lists among the 250 best recordings of all time (Elgar’s Enigma Variations, Bach's Double Concerto with Menuhin and Enescu, Brahms’s Piano Concerto no.1 with Katchen).

Monteux’s artistic ideals were clarity, precision and structural listenability, his aspiration was unobtrusive eloquence and pure beauty of sound. Rather small in stature, he made little fuss about his person and, as far as possible, disappeared behind the work. He did not need any big conducting moves; during the often tedious and long rehearsal work he prepared his orchestras – over one hundred, including his work as a guest conductor - so well that only minor gestures were needed to realize his ideas in the actual concerts.

He gave his signals with charm, wit, and a certain belligerence. Monteux took on musical challenges even in old age. He was already 86 years old when he was appointed director of the London Symphony Orchestra and retained his phenomenal comprehension of musical structures and his keen ear until the very end.