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.
