Maurice Abravanel - Music of Erik Satie (1968/2014) Hi-Res

Maurice Abravanel (1903-1993) Born in Saloniki , Greece. In 1909, his family moved to Lausanne, Switzerland. The Abravanels lived in the same house as Ernest Ansermet, the conductor of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. The young Abravanel was passionate about music and knew he wanted a career as a musician. In 1922, Abravanel went to Berlin where he became a student of the composer Kurt Weill. In 1927 in Altenburg, Abravanel was appointed conductor at his first major opera house in Kassel. Because of the rise of Hitler, Jewish musicians were being forced to leave Germany. Abravanel went to Paris with Kurt Weill in 1933. In Paris he worked with Bruno Walter and Pierre Monteux. He also met George Balanchine in Paris and conducted his ballets. In 1936, he received an offer from the Metropolitan Opera in New York to come and conduct the German and French repertoire. He also conducted Kurt Weill's productions on Broadway. In 1947, the most important cultural event in both his and the City of Salt Lake happened .... Abravanel accepted a one-year contract to conduct the recently formed Utah Symphony. Abravanel stayed, eventually maintaining the position of Music Director for thirty-two years. The Maestro retired from the podium in 1979, but he remained active in Utah's cultural community until his death in 1993. His relationship with that orchestra proved to be the longest of any conductor of a major US Orchestra, his only competiton for the title being Ormandy with the Philadelphia. Under Abravanel, the Utah Symphony grew from a community ensemble to a symphony orchestra of worldwide fame. He was most influential in the building of Utah's acclaimed Symphony Hall, renamed Abravanel Hall in his honor in 1993. Unfortunately, he never conducted there, having retiring the season before its opening. In 1993, Abravanel died in Salt Lake City, Utah, at the age of 90.

Tracks:

01. Parade (Ballet) 14:11
02. Les Adventures De Mercure (Ballet) 10:52
03. Deux Préludes Posthumes Et Une Gnossienne 9:19
04. Le Fils Des Etoiles (The Son Of The Stars) 7:41
05. Jack-In-The-Box 5:41

Personnel:

Maurice Abravanel
Utah Symphony Orchestra