Rudolf Kempe
One of the great unsung conductors of the middle twentieth century, Rudolf Kempe enjoyed a strong reputation in England but never quite achieved the international acclaim that he might have had with more aggressive management, promotion, and recording. Not well enough known to be a celebrity but too widely respected to count as a cult figure, Kempe is perhaps best remembered as a connoisseur's conductor, one valued for his strong creative temperament rather than for any personal mystique.
He studied oboe as a child, performed with the Dortmund Opera, and, in 1929, barely out of his teens, he became first oboist of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. His conducting debut came in 1936, at the Leipzig Opera; this performance of Lortzing's Der Wildschütz was so successful that the Leipzig Opera hired him as a répétiteur. Kempe served in the German army during World War II, but much of his duty was out of the line of fire; in 1942 he was assigned to a music post at the Chemnitz Opera. After the war, untainted by Nazi activities, he returned to Chemnitz as director of the opera (1945-1948), and then moved on to the Weimar National Theater (1948-1949). From 1949 to 1953 he served as general music director of the Staatskapelle Dresden, East Germany's finest orchestra. He then moved to the identical position at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, 1952-1954, succeeding the young and upwardly mobile Georg Solti. During this period he was also making guest appearances outside of Germany, mainly in opera: in Vienna (1951), at London's Covent Garden (1953), and at New York's Metropolitan Opera (1954), to mention only the highlights. Although he conducted Wagner extensively, especially at Covent Garden, Kempe did not make his Bayreuth debut until 1960. As an opera conductor he was greatly concerned with balance and texture, and singers particularly appreciated his efforts on their behalf.
Kempe made a great impression in England, and in 1960 Thomas Beecham named him associate conductor of London's Royal Philharmonic. Kempe became the orchestra's principal conductor upon Beecham's death the following year, and, after the orchestra was reorganized, served as its artistic director from 1963 to 1975. He was also the chief conductor of the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra from 1965 to 1972, and of the Munich Philharmonic from 1967 until his death in 1976. During the last year of his life he also entered into a close association with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
Interpretively, Kempe was something of a German Beecham. He was at his best -- lively, incisive, warm, expressive, but never even remotely self-indulgent -- in the Austro-Germanic and Czech repertory. Opera lovers prize his versions of Lohengrin, Die Meistersinger, and Ariadne auf Naxos. His greatest recorded legacy, accomplished during the last four or five years of his life, was the multi-volume EMI set of the orchestral works and concertos of Richard Strauss, performed with the highly idiomatic Dresden Staatskapelle. These recordings were only intermittently available outside of Europe in the LP days, but in the 1990s EMI issued them on nine compact discs.
© TiVo
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Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Excerpts (Mono Version)
Tiana Lemnitz, Ferdinand Frantz, Staatskapelle Dresden, Rudolf Kempe
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on Jan 1, 1963
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Symphony No. 8 in F Major, Op. 93 - Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op. 64
Symphonieorchester Des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Rudolf Kempe
Classical - Released by Orfeo on Jan 1, 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Salome
Classical - Released by Myto Historical on May 18, 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Overtures (Album of 1960)
Rudolf Kempe, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Festive Music on Oct 31, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bizet: L'Arlésienne Suites Nos. 1 & 2 - Kodály: Háry János Suite
Bamberger Symphoniker, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Rudolf Kempe
Classical - Released by Jube Classic on Nov 3, 2023
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
J. Strauss II & Jos. Strauss: Valses et polkas (Mono Version)
Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Rudolf Kempe
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on Jan 1, 1963
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms · Ein deutsches Requiem
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Elisabeth Grümmer, St. Hedwig's Cathedral Choir, Rudolf Kempe, Berliner Philharmoniker
Classical - Released by G.O.P. on Jun 30, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms Paint
Rudolf Kempe, Berliner Philharmoniker
Classical - Released by Urania Records on Mar 15, 2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms Paint
Rudolf Kempe, Berliner Philharmoniker
Classical - Released by Urania RC on Mar 15, 2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
WEBER: DER FREISCHÜTZ
Opera - Released by Nar Classical on Jan 1, 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Franz Joseph Haydn : Cello Concerto No. 2 - Luigi Boccherini : Cello Concerto No. 9 - Johannes Brahms : Cello Sonata No. 1
Antonio Janigro, Jörg Demus, Orchestra Alessandro Scarlatti di Napoli della RAI, Franco Caracciolo, Orchestra Sinfonica Di Roma Della RAI, Rudolf Kempe
Classical - Released by OperaPrima-Carillon on Jan 1, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Strauss R.: Feuersnot (Live, August 1958)
Opera - Released by Orfeo on Jan 1, 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Nights in Vienna (Album of 1958)
Rudolf Kempe, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Festive Music on Oct 31, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
On Holiday (Album of 1963)
Rudolf Kempe, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Festive Music on Oct 31, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms's symphonies
Rudolf Kempe, Berliner Philharmoniker
Classical - Released by Urania RC on Dec 7, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Great Conductors: Rudolf Kempe (Bach - Beethoven) (1956-1957)
Berliner Philharmoniker, Jakob Gimpel, Rudolf Kempe
Classical - Released by Jube Classic on Mar 5, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op. 64
Berliner Philharmoniker, Rudolf Kempe
Symphonic Music - Released by Radio Tower Records on Nov 19, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Concierto Grosso, Op. 3, No. 5 y No. 6
Orquesta Filarmónica Union, Rudolf Kempe
Chamber Music - Released by MARFER on Mar 22, 1980
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
J. Strauss II & Jos. Strauss: Valses et polkas (Mono Version)
Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Rudolf Kempe
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on Jan 1, 1963
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Concerto pour violon, Op. 77 (Mono Version)
Yehudi Menuhin, Berliner Philharmoniker, Rudolf Kempe
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on Jan 1, 1959
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo