Sir Neville Marriner

With over 2,000 works spread across more than 600 recordings, numerically Neville Marriner’s prolific discography has only that of Herbert von Karajan to rival it. Born in 1924, the violinist-turned-conductor will forever be associated with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, a chamber ensemble (then orchestra) he founded in 1958. Its bright sound, vivacity and technical prowess set new standards, and for Baroque repertoire it drew on Marriner’s friendship with the harpsichordist and scholar Thurston Dart. Among the Academy’s notable achievements are its recording of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with violinist Alan Loveday, which revitalised an old classic, and Marriner and the Academy recording the music for Miloš Forman’s film of Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus, subsequently released as one of their best-selling albums. The founding music director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Marriner also served as music director for the Minnesota Orchestra (1978-86) and the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (1983–89), and celebrated his 90th birthday conducting at the BBC Proms. With a repertoire stretching from Baroque to 20th-century composers such as Britten, Stravinsky and Tippett, he remained indefatigable to the end, conducting his last concert just two days before his death in 2016.