Hans Swarowsky
Known as widely for his teaching as for his orchestral direction, Hans Swarowsky had much to share with a younger generation of musicians. He studied composition and conducting with several of the twentieth century's greatest icons, absorbing and exercising what he had learned in a respected career as a conductor. Despite an uneven cast, his recording of Wagner's Ring cycle, taped in Prague, has considerable power and poetry.
Born in Hungary, Swarowsky studied in Vienna with composers Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern and trained in conducting with Felix Weingartner, Richard Strauss, and Clemens Krauss. His engagements subsequently took him to many parts of Europe, first to Stuttgart and Hamburg, later to Berlin (1934), Zürich (1937-1940), and Krakow (1944-1946).
Following several harrowing experiences in flight from the Nazis, Swarowsky found his career stabilized once more in the postwar period with an engagement at Graz from 1947-1950. During this time and in subsequent assignments at the Wiener Staatsoper, Swarowsky was recognized as a conductor with a long measure of technical expertise. Thus, his classes at Vienna's Academy of Music and the Performing Arts, where he had been professor of conducting since 1946, drew a remarkable pool of aspiring young musicians. Among them were Claudio Abbado, Jesús López-Cobos, Mariss Jansons, Zubin Mehta, Giuseppe Sinopoli, and Bruno Weil, later to be among the most prominent of their generation. Vienna's Hans Swarowsky International Conductors' Competition has attracted musicians from all parts of the globe, becoming in the process one of the world's most important clearing houses for rising talent.
From 1957 to 1959, Swarowsky served as chief conductor of the Scottish National Orchestra. In 1959, he was appointed chief conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra; together with his service to that ensemble, he continued to appear with the Wiener Staatsoper.
In addition to performing compositions from the Classical and Romantic periods, Swarowsky served his own age with diligence. Aside from Strauss and Webern, composers such as Britten, Einem, Hindemith, Pfitzner, and Stravinsky figured prominently in the conductor's programming. Among his recordings for Concert Hall, Erato, Nonesuch, Vanguard, Vox, and Weltbild, he committed to disc an especially delightful set of orchestral suites from Humperdinck operas.
© TiVo
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Beethoven: Symphonie No. 6, Op. 68 "Pastorale" (Mono Version)
Wiener Staatsoper, Hans Swarowsky
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Four Symphonies
Süddeutsche Philharmonie, Hans Swarowsky
Classical - Released by Denon on 1 Jan 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: Das Rheingold Highlights
Grosses Symphonieorchster, Hans Swarowsky
Gospel - Released by Denon on 1 Jan 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mendelssohn - Piano Concerto No. 2 - Scherzo A Capriccio
Rena Kyriakou, Felix Mendelssohn, Vienna Pro Musica Orchestra, Hans Swarowsky
Classical - Released by Denon on 1 Jan 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: Siegfried
Grosses Symphonieorchester, Hans Swarowsky
Classical - Released by Denon on 1 Jan 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: Gotterdammerung
Grosses Symphonieorchester, Hans Swarowsky
Classical - Released by Denon on 1 Jan 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
Bamberg Philharmonic Orchestra, Hans Swarowsky
Classical - Released by Red Note OMP on 17 May 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: Overtures
Bamberger Symphoniker, Hans Swarowsky
Classical - Released by Allegretto on 1 Jan 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Symphony No. 35 in D Major, K. 385 (Digitally Remastered)
Bamberger Symphoniker, Hans Swarowsky
Symphonic Music - Released by EMG Classical on 13 Nov 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Porter: Concerto for Viola & Orchestra - Dello Joio: Serenade
Paul Angerer, Vienna Orchestra, Hans Swarowsky, Max Schönherr
Classical - Released by Naxos Classical Archives on 1 Oct 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Operní předehry I.
Hans Swarowsky, Vienna State Opera Orchestra, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra
Symphonic Music - Released by Supraphon a.s. on 25 Sep 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A Strauss Ball in Vienna
Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera, Hans Swarowsky
Classical - Released by MVE on 28 Mar 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: Lohengrin, WWV75
South German Philharmonic Orchestra, Hans Swarowsky
Classical - Released by Red Note OMP on 17 May 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
How to Overture
Vienna Philharmusica Symphony Orchestra, Hans Swarowsky, The Ussr State Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Music Manager on 17 Nov 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Classical Selection - Bach: "Italian Concerto"
Hans Swarowsky, Musici Di San Marco, Bamberg Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by perpetuo CLASSICS on 16 Dec 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Symphonie No. 2, Op. 17 (Mono Version)
Orchestre de l'opéra d'état de Vienne, Hans Swarowsky
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1956
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: Gotterdammerung Highlights (Hans Swarowsky, Grosses Symphonieorchster)
Classical - Released by Denon on 1 Jan 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Greatest Romantic Mezzo Arias
Hans Swarowsky, Nürnberger Symphoniker, Rita Noel
Classical - Released by Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group on 17 May 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Symphony No. 4, Hungarian Dance 1 & 2
Hans Swarowsky, Süddeutsche Philharmonie
Classical - Released by SendClassic on 24 Aug 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Concerto No. 14 For Piano And Orchestra In C-Minor, K. 491 / Piano Sonata In B-Flat, K. 333
Denis Matthews, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Hans Swarowsky, Vienna State Opera Orchestra
Pop - Released by Music Manager on 26 Mar 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky, P.I.: Symphony No. 1, "Winter Daydreams" (Vienna Philharmusica Symphony, Swarowsky) (1956)
Vienna Philharmusica Symphony, Hans Swarowsky
Classical - Released by Naxos Classical Archives on 1 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo