 290px|thumb ernest alexandre ansermet (pronounced ), (11 november 1883 â 20 february 1969)"ansermet, ernest" in the new encyclopaedia britannica. chicago: encyclopaedia britannica inc., 15th edn., 1992, vol. 1, p. 435. was a swiss conductor. == biography == ansermet was born in vevey, switzerland. although he was a contemporary of wilhelm furtwÃ¤ngler and otto klemperer, ansermet represents in most ways a very different tradition and approach from those two musicians. originally he was a mathematics professor, teaching at the university of lausanne. he began conducting at the casino in montreux in 1912, and from 1915 to 1923 was the conductor for diaghilev's ballets russes. traveling in france for this, he met both debussy and ravel, and consulted them on the performance of their works. during world war i, he met stravinsky, who was exiled in switzerland, and from this meeting began the conductor's lifelong association with russian music. in 1918, ansermet founded his own orchestra, the orchestre de la suisse romande (osr). he toured widely in europe and america and became famous for accurate performances of difficult modern music, making first recordings of works such as stravinsky's capriccio with the composer as soloist. also, ansermet was one of the first in the field of classical music to take jazz seriously, and in 1919 he wrote an article praising sidney bechet.ernest ansermet, 'sur un orchestre nÃ¨gre', la revue romande, 1 october 1919. after world war ii, ansermet and his orchestra rose to international prominence through a long-term contract with decca records. from that time until his death, he recorded most of his repertoire, often two or three times. his interpretations were widely regarded as admirably clear and authoritative, though the orchestral playing did not always reach the highest international standards, and they differed notably from those of other famous 20th-century specialists, notably pierre monteux and stravinsky himself. ansermet disapproved of stravinsky's practice of revising his works, and always played the original versions. although famous for performing much modern music by other composers such as arthur honegger and frank martin, he avoided altogether the music of arnold schoenberg and his associates, even criticizing stravinsky when he began to use twelve-tone techniques in his compositions.{{cite journal | last=krausz | first=michael | authorlink= | coauthors= |date=summer 1984| title=the tonal and the foundational: ansermet on stravinsky | journal=the journal of aesthetics and art criticism | volume=42 | issue=4 | pages=38
1883_births 1969_deaths 20th-century_conductors_(music) Burials_at_CimetiA"re_des_Rois Deaths_from_myocardial_infarction Decca_Records_artists People_from_Vevey Swiss_conductors_(music)