SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg
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
Similar artists
-
Richard Strauss: Tone Poems, Vol. 2
SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Johannes Luthy, François-Xavier Roth, Frank-Michael Guthmann
Klassiek - Released by SWR Classic on 1 okt. 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rosetti: Clarinet Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 & Concerto for 2 Horns
Dieter Klöcker, Klaus Wallendorf, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Sarah Willis, Holger Schroter-Seebeck
Klassiek - Released by CPO on 28 sep. 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Richard Strauss : Symphonic Poems, Vol. 1
SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, François-Xavier Roth
Klassiek - Released by SWR Classic on 28 mei 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Benda: Viola Concertos Nos. 1-3
Jean-Eric Soucy, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Bernard Labadie
Klassiek - Released by CPO on 6 jul. 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
János Starker Plays Hindemith, Prokofiev & Rautavaara
Janos Starker, Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Andreas von Lukácsy, Ernest Bour, Herbert Blomstedt
Klassiek - Released by SWR Classic on 7 okt. 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-Flat Major, K. 482 - Schumann: Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54
Annie Fischer, Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Hans Müller-Kray, Hans Rosbaud
Klassiek - Released by SWR Classic on 9 sep. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 7 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 131
SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Heribert Esser
Klassiek - Released by SWR Mediaservices GmbH on 13 mrt. 2020
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
R. Strauss: Tone Poems, Vol. 5
SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, François-Xavier Roth
Klassiek - Released by SWR Classic on 13 jan. 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lachenmann: Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern
Sylvain Cambreling, SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg
Klassiek - Released by ECM New Series on 14 jun. 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Friedrich Cerha: Spiegel - Monumentum - Momente
Friedrich Cerha, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Sylvain Cambreling, ORF Radio Symphonieorchester Wien, Dennis Russell Davies
Klassiek - Released by KAIROS on 26 apr. 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Holliger: Violinkonzert "Hommage à Louis Soutter"
Thomas Zehetmair, Heinz Holliger, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg
Klassiek - Released by ECM New Series on 17 jun. 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
R. Strauss: Tone Poems, Vol. 4
SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, François-Xavier Roth
Klassiek - Released by SWR Classic on 9 okt. 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Donaueschinger Musiktage 2006, Vol. 2
SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Hans Zender
Klassiek - Released by NEOS Music on 15 sep. 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Richard Strauss : Tone Poems, Vol. 3
SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, François-Xavier Roth
Klassiek - Released by SWR Classic on 2 sep. 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hambræus & Lenners: Piano Concertos
Ortwin Sturmer, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Saarbrücken, Israel Yinon, Gilbert Amy
Klassiek - Released by NEOS Music on 14 mrt. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Berlioz: Vocal Works with Orchestra
SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart, Sylvain Cambreling
Klassiek - Released by SWR Classic on 1 jan. 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schönberg: Moses und Aron
Franz Grundheber, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Andreas Conrad, Europe Choir Academy, Sylvain Cambreling
Opera - Released by SWR Classic on 3 jun. 2014
Gramophone Editor's Choice16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Donaueschinger Musiktage 2012
SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg
Kamermuziek - Released by NEOS Music on 18 okt. 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: Images, Danses sacrée et profane & La mer
SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Ursula Eisert, Sylvain Cambreling
Klassiek - Released by SWR Classic on 1 jan. 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Berlioz: Concert Overtures
SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Sylvain Cambreling
Klassiek - Released by SWR Classic on 1 jan. 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Donaueschinger Musiktage 2007, Vol. 3
SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, SWR Experimentalstudio, Rupert Huber, Mark Andre, Sylvain Cambreling
Klassiek - Released by NEOS Music on 24 nov. 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo