Adrian Boult
Biography
Adrian Boult was one of Britain's foremost conductors for nearly 70 years. He championed contemporary music, introducing Holst's The Planets and Berg's Wozzeck to the British public, but his pioneering work with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, which he created and directed for 20 years, is often regarded as his signature achievement. Boult felt it was the conductor's duty to present as much music as possible to the listening public without regard for the conductor's own personal tastes, leaving it to posterity to preserve particular pieces. Describing himself as a musical "purist," Boult believed that everything necessary for a successful performance was to be found within the printed score. Often his clarity of approach and fidelity to the score produced electrifying results. He notably recorded the symphonies of Vaughan Williams and Elgar, and the first English performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 3 with contralto Kathleen Ferrier.