Pierre Monteux
Monteux during his conductorship of Les Ballets Russes, c. 1912 "Photo de Monde Musical" - Bibliothèque nationale de France, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
The French conductor Pierre Monteux, in his 89 years of life, conducted with great acclaim music of many schools. One of the relatively few French conductors who achieved international reputations, Monteux resisted the tendency to associate him exclusively with French music, but nevertheless, he had a special way with the music of Franck, Debussy and Ravel.
On this week's Classics of the Phonograph, Saturday at 11 am on WILL-FM, will hear Monteux exhibiting his special French touch in records made in San Francisco and Boston.