WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln
The WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, or West German Radio Symphony Orchestra of Cologne, is one of Germany's leading symphony orchestras. The group plays the music of various periods but has specialized in contemporary music, a specialty made possible by the fact that the WDR network also maintains another orchestra, the WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln, that performs lighter music and pops material.
The broadcast of orchestral music on the radio in Cologne dates back almost to the foundation of the Richessender Köln radio station in 1927. After World War II, Allied administrators announced the breakup of the central broadcasting of the Nazi era in favor of a system of regional broadcasters that persists today. The Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester was established to serve the new Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (Northwest German Radio), in 1947; the name was changed to WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln in the 1990s. In the beginning, the group hosted only guest conductors, but since 1964, when Christoph von Dohnányi was named principal conductor, the orchestra has reliably spawned international conducting careers. Recent principal conductors have included Hans Vonk (1991-1997), Semyon Bychkov (1997-2010), Jukka-Pekka Saraste (2010-2019), and, since 2019, Cristian Macelaru. Guest conductors have included international greats: Herbert von Karajan, Karl Böhm, and Zubin Mehta, among others. The orchestra's contemporary music specialty dates back many years and has included premieres of works by Luciano Berio, Hans Werner Henze, and Karlheinz Stockhausen. This tendency, along with the WDR's maintenance of its own electronic music studio directed for many years by Stockhausen, helped to establish Cologne as a center for contemporary music. The orchestra performs at the WDR Funkhaus Wallrafplatz and the Kölner Philharmonie.
The WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln has recorded for both German and international labels. In 1989, under frequent guest conductor Günter Wand, the orchestra released recordings of Schubert's Symphony No. 9 in C major, D. 944 ("The Great"), and Bruckner's Symphony No. 5 on RCA Red Seal. The orchestra has also recorded for Wergo, Audite, CPO, and many others. Although quite prolific, with more than 80 recordings to its credit as of the early 2020s, the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln has not been strongly associated with any single imprint. In 2020, the group released its first two albums on Sony Classical, Beethoven's World, and a release devoted to the violin concertos of Franz Joseph Clement, with violinist Mirijam Contzen and conductor Reinhard Goebel.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Brahms: Symphonies Nos. 1-4, Variations on a Theme by Haydn & Overtures
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Classical - Released by Profil on 1 Jun 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Prokofiev: Cinderella, Op. 87
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Michail Jurowski
Classical - Released by CPO on 15 Aug 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Strauss, R.: Also Sprach Zarathustra / Burleske
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Gary Bertini
Classical - Released by CapriccioNR on 1 Jan 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ries: Concert Overtures
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Howard Griffiths
Classical - Released by CPO on 21 Jan 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23, Piano Concerto No. 20, Adagio and Fugue
Sir Georg Solti, Clifford Curzon, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln
Classical - Released by OperaPrima-Carillon on 1 Jan 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky, I.: Canticum Sacrum / Agon / Requiem Canticles
Christian Elsner, Stella Doufexis, Rudolf Rosen, Michael Gielen, SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln
Choral Music (Choirs) - Released by SWR Classic on 1 Jan 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hindemith: Orchestral Works
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Marek Janowski
Symphonies - Released by PENTATONE on 1 Feb 2018
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Hausegger: Natursymphonie
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, WDR Rundfunkchor Köln, Ari Rasilainen
Classical - Released by CPO on 1 May 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Fuchs: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Karl-Heinz Steffens
Classical - Released by CPO on 1 Apr 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grieg: Peer Gynt-Suite Nr. 1 - Mozart: Klarinettenkonzert a-Dur - Dvořák: 9. Sinfonie
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Thorsten Johanns, Eivind Aadland
Classical - Released by Profil on 1 Jan 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
BRAHMS, J.: Violin Concerto in D major / MENDELSSOHN, F.: Violin Concerto in E minor (Haendel, Muller-Kray) (1953, 1955)
Ida Haendel, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Hans Müller-Kray
Classical - Released by SWR Classic on 1 Jan 1960
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart : Symphonies n°12, 29 & 39 (Vol. 2)
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Roger Norrington
Classical - Released by SWR Classic on 1 Jan 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart, W.A.: Violin Concerto No. 5 / Piano Concerto No. 25
Frank Peter Zimmermann, Christian Zacharias, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Gary Bertini
Classical - Released by CapriccioNR on 1 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Symphony No. 4 in E Minor - Academic Festival Overture - Tragic Overture
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Classical - Released by Profil on 13 Apr 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Der Bilderfresser
Marino Formenti, Teodoro Anzellotti, Schlagquartett Koln, WDR Rundfunkchor Köln, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln
Classical - Released by Winter & Winter on 9 Mar 2011
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms : Symphony No. 2 & Haydn Variations
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Symphonic Music - Released by Profil on 13 Oct 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Donatoni: In cauda, Portrait, & Duo pour Bruno
WDR Rundfunkchor Köln, Elisabeth Chojnacka, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Arturo Tamayo
Classical - Released by Stradivarius on 14 Jul 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schöllhorn: Clouds and Sky
Jan Philip Schulze, Gareth Davis, Ensemble S, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, JACK Quartet, Peter Rundel
Chamber Music - Released by Mode Records on 26 Mar 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Eilenberg: Petersburger Schlittenfahrt, Waltzes & Polkas
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Christian Simonis
Classical - Released by CPO on 21 Oct 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mendelssohn: Ein Sommernachts-traum / Die Hebriden
WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Miranda Van Kralingen, Hans Vonk, Iris Vermillion, WDR Rundfunkchor Köln
Classical - Released by CapriccioNR on 1 Aug 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Shostakovich, D.: 6 Verses / 6 Romances / From Jewish Folk Poetry
Tamara Sinjawskaja, Stanislaw Sulejmanow, Nina Fomina, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Michail Jurowski, Arkadi Mischenkin
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by CapriccioNR on 1 Jan 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo