# Georges Prêtre, 1924 - 2017



## ldiat (Jan 27, 2016)

from facebook:
We mourn the loss of our charming and dear honorary member Georges Prêtre with whom we have performed for 50 years


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

I have always considered his recording of the Rachmaninoff Third Concerto with Alexis Weissenberg and the CSO to be one of the absolute best.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Sad to see another great conductor gone, left a great legacy in recordings.


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## micro (Jun 18, 2016)

RIP, his Vienna's new year concert 4 or 5 years ago was unforgettable.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I remember him for conducting a wonderful Carmen recording.

RIP.


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## manyene (Feb 7, 2015)

Especially good in French repertoire. Yet another giant felled: there aren't many left now


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)




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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

> by Chris O'Reilly. 4th January 2017
> 
> The French conductor Georges Prêtre has died at the age of 92. Born in Waziers (just outside Lille) on 14th August 1924, he studied in Douai and Paris, where mentors and influences includes Andrė Cluytens and Maurice Duruflė. He made his professional conducting debut in Marseilles in 1946 and honed his craft in the opera-houses of his native France over the next two decades, including a spell as music director of the Opéra-Comique in Paris, where he conducted the world premiere of Poulenc's one-woman opera La voix humaine with the soprano Denise Duval (who died last January). During the 1960s he made debuts at many of the world's major theatres, including Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera, and La Scala; operatic work (particularly French repertoire) would remain a major focus for the rest of his life, with highlights including acclaimed accounts of Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de Perles, Massenet's Werther, Berlioz's La damnation de Faust, and two landmark studio recordings with Maria Callas - Tosca (with Carlo Bergonzi as Cavaradossi and Tito Gobbi as Scarpia) and Carmen (with Nicolai Gedda as Don Josė) for HMV in 1964. French orchestral repertoire also played a central role in his career - he was renowned for conducting lengthy symphonic works without a score, with acclaimed recordings and signature works including Ravel's La valse, Debussy's Nocturnes and Prélude à 'L'après-midi d'un faune' and Roussel's orchestral works. He was also committed to new music: as well as conducting several Poulenc premieres, he gave the first performances of Joseph Jongen's Symphonie concertante for Organ and Orchestra and Marcel Landowski's Fourth Symphony, which was dedicated to him.
> 
> ...


Source: Presto site by Chris O'Reilly.


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## Krummhorn (Feb 18, 2007)

Outstanding conductor of one of my most favorite organ/orchestra pieces:


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