乔治·普雷特
指挥
Georges Prêtre, who was known for his lively temperament well into old age, did not describe himself as a conductor, but rather as an interpreter. After all, he said, it takes much more than just beating time to bring the silent symbols of a score to life. In addition to his main focus on 19th-century opera, he also regularly performed symphonic repertoire, primarily with the Wiener Symphoniker and the Vienna Philharmonic, the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart.
Born in Waziers in north-eastern France in 1924, Georges Prêtre initially studied trumpet, piano and composition at the conservatories of Douai and Paris. He then trained as a conductor under André Cluytens, Pierre Dervaux and Richard Blareau, making his debut at the age of 22 at the opera in Marseille with Édouard Lalo’s Le Roi d’Ys. After working at theatres in Lille, Casablanca and Toulouse, Prêtre moved to the French capital, where he made his debut at the Opéra Comique with Richard Strauss’s Capriccio. He then worked as a guest conductor at the world’s leading opera houses: in Chicago, Covent Garden in London, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and La Scala in Milan. In 1970, he became music director of the Opera de Paris, but resigned from the position a year later. Instead, Prêtre, who had already been appointed deputy conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 1962, continued his career abroad: at Vienna State Opera, in Milan, and at the Metropolitan Opera, where he conducted almost all of Richard Wagner’s stage works during the Rudolf Bing era. Maria Callas called him her favourite conductor – she can be heard alongside him in recordings of the title roles in Bizet’s Carmen and Puccini’s Tosca. Francis Poulenc also regarded Prêtre as his favourite interpreter and entrusted him with several world premieres. With a few exceptions, Prêtre made recordings of Poulenc’s entire orchestral and choral works.
