Walter Susskind
This famed conductor, born Jan Süsskind, studied composition with Josef Suk and Alois Hába, and piano with Karel Hoffmeister at the Prague State Conservatory. His training in conducting was undertaken with Szell at the German Academy of Music.
In 1931, he premiered a composition and appeared in concert as a pianist at the Prague Mozarteum. His conducting debut was made in 1934 with a production of La traviata at the German Opera, where he had been serving as an assistant to Szell. He composed his Four Songs for Voice and String Quartet in 1935 and continued his piano activity with the Czech Trio from 1933 until the German occupation in 1938. The trio then escaped to London and remained together until 1942.
Süsskind re-activated his conducting as music director of the Carl Rosa Opera Company (1943 - 1945) and made his orchestral debut conducting the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (1945). After becoming a British citizen in 1946, he went to Glasgow to serve as music director for the Scottish Orchestra (later the Scottish National Orchestra).
In 1953, Süsskind moved to Australia to direct the Victoria Symphony Orchestra in Melbourne until 1955. During that period, he made tours of America and the Far East. Then, moving again, he directed the Toronto Symphony Orchestra from 1956 to 1965, giving the Canadian premieres of Bruckner and Mahler symphonies, and founded the National Youth Orchestra of Canada in 1958. Meanwhile, he was music director for the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado (1962 - 1968) and later, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (1968 - 1975), which Süsskind built into a major institution, and the Mississippi River Festival in Edwardsville, IL (1969 - 1975). From 1968 through 1975, Süsskind taught at the University of Southern Illinois. His conducting students included Leonard Slatkin and Gerhardt Zimmermann. His compositions at this time included Nine Slovak Sketches for Orchestra and a Passacaglia for Timpani and Chamber Orchestra (1977).
As guest conductor, Süsskind led major orchestras in Europe, the U.K., and North America. He was the music advisor and principal guest conductor of the Cincinnati Orchestra from 1978 until his passing in 1980.
Süsskind's discography contains more than 55 albums and performances with some of the most noted performers of the twentieth century: Jascha Heifetz, Arthur Rubenstein, Glenn Gould, Dennis Brain, Pierre Fournier, Joan Hammond, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Kirsten Flagstad, Lili Krauss, Szymon Goldberg, Yehudi Menuhin, Artur Schnabel, Leonard Pennario, Shura Cherkassky, Neveu, Tito Gobbi, Victoria de Los Angeles, and many others.
© TiVo
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Liszt: Concerto pour piano et orchestre No. 2, S. 125 & Sonate pour piano, S. 178 (Mono Version)
Philharmonia Orchestra, Walter Susskind, Witold Małcużyński
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1962
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Schwarzkopf Portrays Romantic Heroines (Stereo Version)
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Philharmonia Orchestra, Walter Susskind
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1960
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Rosenthal, Offenbach: Gaîté parisienne (Mono Version)
Walter Susskind, Covent Garden Orchestra
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1955
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Concertos pour violon Nos. 3 & 4 (Mono Version)
Szymon Goldberg, Walter Susskind, Philharmonia Orchestra
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1953
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: Sonate pour piano, S. 178 & Concerto pour piano No. 2 (Mono Version)
Witold Małcużyński, Walter Susskind, Philharmonia Orchestra
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1954
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert: Symphonie No. 4 "Tragique" (Mono Version)
Walter Susskind, London Symphony Orchestra
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bruch: Concerto pour violon No. 1 - Lalo: Symphonie espagnole (Mono Version)
Christian Ferras, Walter Susskind, Philharmonia Orchestra
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1959
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Franck: Variations symphoniques - Schumann: Études symphoniques (Mono Version)
Moura Lympany, Philharmonia Orchestra, Walter Susskind
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1958
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Weihnachten zu Hause: Der Messias, HWV 56
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Walter Susskind
Klassiek - Released by Christmas At Home on 1 jan. 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Darius Milhaud : Cello Concerto No. 1 - Serge Prokofiev : Cello Concerto (Starker) (1956)
Janos Starker, Philharmonia Orchestra, Walter Susskind
Klassiek - Released by Naxos Classical Archives on 1 jan. 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Copland: Appalachian Spring / Morton Gould: Spirituals for String Choir and Orchestra
Walter Susskind, London Symphony Orchestra
Klassiek - Released by Music Manager on 12 sep. 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart, W.A.: Violin Concertos Nos. 3 and 4 (Goldberg) (1952)
Szymon Goldberg, Philharmonia Orchestra, Walter Susskind
Concertmuziek - Released by Naxos Classical Archives on 1 jan. 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Milestones of a Violin Legend, Vol. 8
Szymon Goldberg, Ernest Lush, Lili Kraus, Philharmonia Orchestra, Anthony Pini, Walter Susskind
Klassiek - Released by Intense Media GmbH on 15 okt. 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel's Messiah For Christmas
London Philharmonic Orchestra & Chorus
Kerstmuziek - Released by Big Eye Music on 1 sep. 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Milestones of a Legend: Sergei Prokofiev, Vol. 6
Janos Starker, Walter Susskind, Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, Philharmonia Orchestra, Jean Martinon
Klassiek - Released by Intense Media GmbH on 5 apr. 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64
Walter Susskind, The Philharmonia Orchestra, Yehudi Menuhin
Concertmuziek - Released by Violet Hill Records on 22 nov. 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo