The Top 75 Conductors #17: Sir Colin Davis

With recommended recordings

The Top 75 Conductors Series

#17: Sir Colin Davis

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We have reached #17 in our alphabetical run down of the top 75 conductors of all-time in classical music. In this spot is the English conductor Sir Colin Davis. Davis was one of the most prominent international conductors of his time, and he left us a boat load of recordings to enjoy. He was particularly associated with his interpretations of music by Mozart, Berlioz, Sibelius, Elgar, and Tippett.

Sir Colin Davis (1927 - 2013)

Colin Rex Davis was born in Surrey the fifth of seven children to a family that encouraged an interest in music. Davis remembered his early musical experiences as seeing Sir Malcolm Sargent conducting, hearing Wagner’s Siegfried on his father’s old 78s, and attending a performance of Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony. When he was 13 or 14 he recalls deciding that he would devote his life to music.

Davis first studied the clarinet at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Frederick Thurston. Although he very soon developed an interest in conducting, at the time the academy required proficiency on the piano for prospective conducting students. After his studies, Davis wandered a bit and was a freelance musician for a time. But his goal was still to be a conductor, and since he had no formal training, he literally was self-taught by forming his own ensembles, by observing the great conductors of the day, and by studying musical scores. He had some conducting gigs, including with the Kalmar Orchestra and the Chelsea Opera Group, but nothing regular. What appeared to be a regular appointment with the Original Ballet Russe in 1952 ended quickly due to the company’s financial collapse. Davis took some teaching positions to get by, but his attempts to get a position with a major orchestra were not successful.