Sudwestfunkorchester Baden-Baden
The SWR Baden-Baden and Freiburg Symphony Orchestra (German: SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg) was the house orchestra of Germany's Südwestrundfunk (Southwestern Broadcasting Network). From the beginning, the group had chief conductors who had a strong orientation toward contemporary music.
The orchestra was founded on February 1, 1946, as the Philharmonisches Orchester des Südwestfunks (Southwest Radio Philharmonic Orchestra), taking its membership from an earlier Sinfonie- und Kurorchesters Baden-Baden (Symphony and Spa Orchestra of Baden-Baden) that had been discontinued during World War II. Later in 1946, the group changed its name to the Großes Orchester des Südwestfunks (Large Orchestra of Southwest Radio), and in 1966, it became the Sinfonieorchester des Südwestfunks (Southwest Radio Symphony Orchestra). The orchestra assumed its final name in 1998 when the Southwest German and South German radio networks merged to form the SWR.
The group's first conductor was veteran Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. He was succeeded in 1948 by Hans Rosbaud, an Austrian with a strong interest in contemporary music who led world premieres of works by Hindemith and Stravinsky. From that point forward, the orchestra premiered some 500 new works and gained a reputation well beyond Germany for adventurous programming. The young composer Pierre Boulez began his career with the group in 1958 as artist-in-residence. Rosbaud was succeeded by Ernest Bour (1964 until 1979), who conducted a recording of György Ligeti's Atmosphères that was heard on the soundtrack of the film 2001: A Space Odyssey; Kazimierz Kord (1980 until 1986); Michael Gielen (1986 until 1999), who under his "Musik ist unteilbar" ("Music Is Indivisible") motto sought to give standard repertory and contemporary music equal status; Sylvain Cambreling (1999 until 2011); and finally, François-Xavier Roth (2011 until 2016), who continued the orchestra's contemporary music mission under the motto "Wir spielen neue Musik aus allen Zeiten" ("we play new music from all periods").
In 2012, German radio executives voted to merge the SWR Baden-Baden and Freiburg Symphony Orchestra and the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra on the grounds that the two radio network orchestras served generally similar areas. The decision aroused strong protest, and the SWR Baden-Baden and Freiburg Symphony Orchestra continued to perform. The orchestra made its first appearance at the BBC Proms in 2015. The following year it gave its final concert at the Konzerthaus Freiburg, it's home since the late 1990s, and was replaced by the new SWR Symphonieorchester.
The SWR Baden-Baden and Freiburg Symphony Orchestra had a distinguished recording catalog of well over 50 albums. The group recorded for the Arte Nova, Hänssler Classic, NEOS, and other smaller, high-quality labels, and several were made at the influential Donaueschingen Musiktage festival. Recordings by the SWR Baden-Baden and Freiburg Symphony Orchestra have continued to appear on SWR Klassik, the in-house label of the new SWR Symphonieorchester; these recordings date back as far as Rosbaud's day. SWR Klassik released a complete set of Richard Strauss' tone poems, conducted by Roth, in 2021.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Discography
20 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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French Music (Remastered 2022)
Hans Rosbaud, Sudwestfunkorchester Baden-Baden, Monique Haas
Classical - Released by SWR Classic on 12 Aug 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Successful Beginning
Martha Argerich, Ruggiero Ricci, Sudwestfunkorchester Baden-Baden, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Ernest Bour, Peter Maag
Classical - Released by Profil on 17 Aug 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sibelius: Orchestral Works (Remastered 2021)
Hans Rosbaud, Sudwestfunkorchester Baden-Baden, Kim Borg
Classical - Released by SWR Classic on 8 Oct 2021
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Symphonies, Piano Concertos & Serenades
Sudwestfunkorchester Baden-Baden, Walter Gieseking, Geza Anda, Hans Rosbaud
Classical - Released by SWR Classic on 8 Mar 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dvorák: Cellokonzert, Op. 104 - Serenade, Op. 22 (Auszug)
Sudwestfunkorchester Baden-Baden, André Jouve, Guy Fallet, Südwestdeutsche Kammerphilharmonie, Günter Wich
Classical - Released by Adora on 4 Dec 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Weber & Mendelssohn: Orchestral Works
Sudwestfunkorchester Baden-Baden, Robert Casadesus, Yvonne Loriod, Hans Rosbaud
Classical - Released by SWR Classic on 4 Aug 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Sinfonie No. 3, Op. 90 - Serenade No. 2, Op. 16 (Auszug)
Sudwestfunkorchester Baden-Baden, Jascha Horenstein, Orchester der Württembergischen Staatsoper Stuttgart, Andrec Jouve
Classical - Released by Adora on 3 May 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Klavierkonzert No. 2, Op. 83 - Serenade No. 2, Op. 16 (Auszüge)
Sudwestfunkorchester Baden-Baden, Rolf Reinhardt, Gyorgy Sandor, Orchester der Württembergischen Staatsoper Stuttgart, Andrec Jouve
Classical - Released by Adora on 5 Nov 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5
Sudwestfunkorchester Baden-Baden, Hans Rosbaud
Classical - Released by SWR Classic on 8 Jun 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tschaikowsky: Klavierkonzert No. 1 - Klavierstücke, Op. 19
Sudwestfunkorchester Baden-Baden, Laszlö Somogyi, Daniel Wayenberg, Michael Ponti
Miscellaneous - Released by Adora on 5 Feb 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Sinfonie No. 2, Op. 73 - Variationen über ein Thema von Joseph Haydn, Op. 56a
Sudwestfunkorchester Baden-Baden, Ernest Bour
Classical - Released by Adora on 30 Oct 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Sinfonie No. 3 - Serenade No. 2
Sudwestfunkorchester Baden-Baden, Jascha Horenstein, Orchester der Württembergischen Staatsoper Stuttgart, Andrec Jouve
Classical - Released by Bella Musica Edition on 3 May 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bruckner: Sinfonie No. 7
Sudwestfunkorchester Baden-Baden, Hans Rosbaud
Classical - Released by Adora on 13 Nov 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Sinfonie No. 2, Op. 73 - Variationen, Op. 56 A
Sudwestfunkorchester Baden-Baden, Ernest Bour, Jascha Horenstein
Classical - Released by Bella Musica Edition on 30 Oct 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin & Music for Piano
Gyorgy Sandor, Sudwestfunkorchester Baden-Baden, Rolf Reinhardt
Classical - Released by Jube Classic on 10 Feb 2017
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Great Conductors: Hans Rosbaud Conducts Bruckner Symphony No. 7 (Haas Edition)
Sudwestfunkorchester Baden-Baden, Hans Rosbaud
Classical - Released by Jube Classic on 7 Oct 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: Faust Symphony
Sudwestfunkorchester Baden-Baden, Jascha Horenstein, Männerchor des Süddeutschen Rundfunks
Classical - Released by Mangora Classical on 1 Jan 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Klavierkonzert No. 2, Op. 83 - Serenade No. 2, Op. 16, Vol. 3
Gyorgy Sandor, Sudwestfunkorchester Baden-Baden, Rolf Reinhardt, Orchester der Württembergischen Staatsoper Stuttgart, Andrec Jouve
Classical - Released by Bella Musica Edition on 5 Nov 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
More Piano Giants: Martha Argerich, Vol. 1
Martha Argerich, Sudwestfunkorchester Baden-Baden, Ernest Bour
Classical - Released by Intense Media GmbH on 15 Mar 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Milestones of a Violin Legend: Henryk Szeryng, Vol. 8
Henryk Szeryng, Sudwestfunkorchester Baden-Baden, Hans Rosbaud
Classical - Released by Intense Media GmbH on 15 Mar 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo