American conductor Lawrence Foster (born in 1941) began his career with the San Francisco Ballet. After winning the Koussevitzky Prize in Boston in 1966 he made his debut in England, where he was later appointed principal guest conductor with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London. In 1971 Lawrence Foster succeeded Sir John Barbirolli as director of the Houston Symphony Orchestra. From 1979 to 1990 he was director of the «Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo». Lawrence Foster is currently the musical director of the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado (USA).

Maestro Foster is of the opinion that his recording with the «Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo» of Paul Dukas’ Symphony in C Major and Gabriel Fauré’s Pelléas and Mélisande (Claves CD 50-9102) is one of his very best (and he has won a number of international awards for other recordings, including the Grand Prix International du Disque de l’Académie Charles Cros). Composer Paul Dukas cultivated craftsmanship to the highest degree and his orchestration has been widely admired and imitated. Gabriel Fauré wrote Pelléas and Mélisande as incidental music for the stage work at London’s Prince of Wales Theatre. Both compositions are beautiful examples of transcendental French orchestral music.