Michel Plasson

Michel Plasson at the "Chorégies d'Orange" (2008)

Michel Plasson (born October 2, 1933 in Paris ) is a French conductor .

Life

Plasson studied under Lazare Lévy at the conservatory in his hometown , won the Besançon conducting competition in 1962 and, on the advice of Charles Münch , moved to the USA for a few years, where he continued his education with Leopold Stokowski , Pierre Monteux and Erich Leinsdorf . In 1965 he became general music director in Metz and in 1968 took the same position at the Orchester National du Capitole de Toulouse , from which he formed one of the best French ensembles, both technically and musically. Olivier von Winterstein , director of the Dresden Philharmonic since 1992 and previously Plasson's personal advisor, brought him to Dresden in 1994 as chief conductor, where he stayed until 2001. Until 2003, Plasson conducted the Toulouse Orchester national du Capitole.

As a conductor, Michel Plasson is considered a traditionalist in the best sense of the word: his understanding of music is above all handcrafted, he is not interested in exploring or inventing hidden senses; nor is he a “desk dancer” ( Hans Zender ), but strives for the most emotional and technically unadulterated expression.

Michel Plasson's son Emmanuel Plasson also became a conductor.

Recordings

Michel Plasson played works by Maurice Ravel , Albéric Magnard , Henri Dutilleux , Giuseppe Verdi , Ernest Chausson , Charles Gounod , Arthur Honegger , César Franck , Gabriel Fauré , Albert Roussel , Richard Strauss , Richard Wagner and four operettas for EMI with his Toulouse orchestra Jacques Offenbach a. As the pinnacle of his work at his valid Berlin Classics released recordings of the tone poems of Franz Liszt (with the Dresden Philharmonic).

Web links

• Biography (English) at the Académie internationale de musique française Michel Plasson

Individual evidence

1. ↑ List of the award winners ( Memento of July 10, 2011 in the Internet Archive )