Gernot Schmalfuss
One of Germany's most prominent oboists, Gernot Schmalfuss has also had a significant career as a conductor. He has made a number of recordings as both oboist and conductor and is a noted educator.
Schmalfuss (also given as Schmalfuß) was born in East Prussia, then part of Nazi Germany, in 1943. He studied oboe at the Nordwestdeutsche Musikakademie Detmold (now the Hochschule für Musik Detmold) with Helmut Winschermann and Leon Goossens, then went on to study piano and conducting in London. He landed a post as solo oboist with the Munich Philharmonic in 1968, and two years later, he joined the new Consortium Classicum chamber orchestra organized by clarinetist Dieter Klöcker. In Munich, he took conducting lessons from the Philharmonic's conductor, the renowned Rudolf Kempe, and after leaving his oboist post in 1979, he began to find conducting engagements around Germany and beyond. He served as conductor with the orchestra of the Richard Strauss Conservatory in Munich and the Munich Chamber Soloists, and he took on a large variety of guest conducting engagements. These included appearances with the Munich Philharmonic, the Duisburg Symphony Orchestra, the Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra, and various Japanese ensembles, including the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra. Since 2007, Schmalfuss has been the music director and chief conductor of the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra in Taiwan. As a conductor, he has often programmed neglected 19th century composers such as Philipp Jakob Riotte and Norbert Burgmüller.
Schmalfuss has amassed a substantial catalog of recordings, beginning with a large group made with the Consortium Classicum. In 1997, he led a cast including bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff in the little-known oratorio Gioas-Re di Giuda, by Antonio Casimir Cartellieri, in a recording on the audiophile label MDG. The next year, he issued an album of Burgmüller's works with the Wuppertal Symphony on MDG, and he continued to record for that label both as conductor and oboist. Schmalfuss issued a complete recording of Benjamin Britten's oboe music in 1999. In the 2010s, he also recorded for CPO, but in 2019, he moved back to MDG for an album of music by Max Bruch, once again with the Wuppertal Symphony. Since 1986, Schmalfuss has taught at his alma mater, the Musikhochschule Detmold.
© James Manheim /TiVo
Discography
15 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
-
Vieuxtemps: Cello Concertos Nos. 1 & 2
Wen-Sinn Yang, Evergreen Symphony Orchestra, Gernot Schmalfuss
Classical - Released by CPO on 30 Dec 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lachner: Symphony No. 6, Op. 56 & Bassoon Concertino, Op. 23
Evergreen Symphony Orchestra, Chia-Hua Hsu, Gernot Schmalfuss
Classical - Released by CPO on 6 Aug 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Oboenquintette
Gernot Schmalfuss, Leopolder Quartett
Classical - Released by Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm (MDG) on 1 Jan 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cartellieri: Symphonies Nos. 1-4
Evergreen Symphony Orchestra, Gernot Schmalfuss
Classical - Released by CPO on 7 Aug 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lachner: Symphony No. 3, Op. 41 & Festival Overture
Evergreen Symphony Orchestra, Gernot Schmalfuss
Classical - Released by CPO on 7 Sep 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bruch: Symphony No. 2 & Violin Concerto No. 3
Gernot Schmalfuss, Andreas Krecher, Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal
Classical - Released by Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm (MDG) on 1 Feb 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Burgmüller: Orchestral Works
Gernot Schmalfuss, Leonard Hokanson, Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal
Classical - Released by Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm (MDG) on 1 Apr 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schacht: Symphonies, Vol. 2
Evergreen Symphony Orchestra, Gernot Schmalfuss
Classical - Released by CPO on 16 Jul 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schacht: Symphonies Vol. 1
Evergreen Symphony Orchestra, Gernot Schmalfuss
Classical - Released by CPO on 1 Apr 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Graun: Concertos and Chamber Music
Waldemar Döling, Andrea Lieberknecht, Gernot Schmalfuss, Sofia Chamber Soloists, Emil Tabakov
Classical - Released by Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm on 9 Apr 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
M. Haydn: Divertimento in D Major, MH 68
Prague Chamber Orchestra, Dieter Klöcker, Gernot Schmalfuss
Classical - Released by Orfeo on 25 Jun 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Britten: Complete Works with Oboe
Gernot Schmalfuss, Mamiko Watanabe, Mannheimer Streichquartett
Classical - Released by Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm (MDG) on 1 Jan 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn & Mozart: Oboe Quartets
Consortium Classicum, Gernot Schmalfuss
Classical - Released by Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm (MDG) on 1 Jan 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Clarinet and Orchestra
Dieter Klöcker, Michael Heitzler, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gernot Schmalfuss
Classical - Released by Marco-Polo on 9 Sep 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Oboensonaten
Gernot Schmalfuss, Waldemar Döling
Classical - Released by Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm (MDG) on 1 Jan 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo