“The man is simply a legend,” wrote The Guardian on the occasion of Sir Neville Marriner’s 90th birthday in 2014. After his death in 2016 it celebrated “a life of music-making of the highest quality that gave pleasure to many.” Over his long career, Marriner built a substantial and admired discography, becoming one of the most-recorded and best-selling conductors of all time. He is associated above all with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the chamber orchestra he founded with a group of colleagues in 1958. Prominent in this richly varied collection, the Academy consistently embodies a fresh and stylish spirit that proved transformational in Baroque and Classical repertoire and illuminated music from the 19th and 20th centuries. Marriner’s distinction and influence as a conductor is further demonstrated by recordings he made with the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart, Staatskapelle Dresden, London Symphony Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and Minnesota Orchestra.

Sir Neville Marriner: The Complete Warner Classics Recordings (80 CDs) brings together all the recordings that the British conductor Sir Neville Marriner (1924-2016) made for EMI Classics (75 CDs), Erato (3 CDs), Virgin Classics (1 CD) and Teldec (1 CD) over the years between 1970 and 2000.

Marriner originally made a reputation as a conductor of 18th century music, pioneering an historically informed approach while using modern instruments. Bach, Handel, Haydn and Mozart hold a prominent position in this 80-CD box, but the repertoire ranges wide, from the 17th century to the late 20th century, embracing symphonic music, concertos, choral works, orchestral songs, excerpts from opera and operetta, and works with a narrator.