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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Wagner: Preludes from Tristan and Isolde & Parsifal (Mono Version)
Orchestre de l'opéra d'état de Vienne, Hans Swarowsky
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1/01/1959
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Prokofiev: Pierre et le loup, Op. 67 (Mono Version)
Yves Furet, Pro Musica Orchester Wien, Hans Swarowsky
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1/01/1956
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Symphonie No. 1, Op. 13 "Rêves d'hiver" (Mono Version)
Orchestre de l'opéra d'état de Vienne, Hans Swarowsky
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1/01/1956
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Concerto pour piano No. 1, Op. 15 & Rondo pour piano et orchestre, WoO 6 (Mono Version)
Friedrich Wuhrer, Pro Musica Orchester Wien, Hans Swarowsky
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1/01/1954
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: Danse macabre, S. 126 (Mono Version)
Orazio Frugoni, Hans Swarowsky, Wiener Pro Musica Orchester
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1/01/1959
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: Andante spianato et Grande polonaise brillante, Op. 22, Orchestral Version (Mono Version)
Orazio Frugoni, Hans Swarowsky, Pro Musica Orchester Wien
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1/01/1959
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Grieg: Suites Nos. 1 & 2 from Peer Gynt - Sibelius: Finlandia (Mono Version)
Anton Paulik, Hans Swarowsky, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1/01/1957
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt: Concertos pour piano Nos. 1 & 2 (Mono Version)
Orazio Frugoni, Hans Swarowsky, Pro Musica Orchester Wien
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1/01/1954
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Concerto pour piano No. 4 (Mono Version)
Friedrich Wuhrer, Hans Swarowsky, Wiener Symphoniker
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1/01/1960
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Concertos pour piano Nos. 9 & 20 (Mono Version)
Guiomar Novaes, Hans Swarowsky, Pro Musica Orchester Wien
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1/01/1955
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Schumann: Piano Concerto, Op. 54 - Grieg: Piano Concerto, Op. 16 (Mono Version)
Felicja Blumental, Hans Swarowsky, Pro Musica Orchester Wien
Classical - Released by BNF Collection on 1/01/1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Festival de musique française (Mono Version)
Vienna Festival Orchestra, Max Schönherr, Hans Swarowsky
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1/01/1962
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Concerto pour piano No. 1 (Mono Version)
Friedrich Wuhrer, Orchestre de l'opéra d'état de Vienne, Hans Swarowsky
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1/01/1953
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: 4 Concertos pour cor (Mono Version)
Albert Linder, Orchestre de l'opéra d'état de Vienne, Hans Swarowsky
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1/01/1962
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Franck: Symphonie in D Minor & Variations symphoniques (Mono Version)
Vienna Festival Orchestra, Hans Swarowsky, Eva Vollma
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1/01/1963
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Schumann: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3 (Mono Version)
Hans Swarowsky, Orchestre de l'opéra d'état de Vienne
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1/01/1963
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mendelssohn: Piano Music, Vol. 2 (Mono Version)
Pro Musica Orchester Wien, Hans Swarowsky, Rena Kyriakou
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1/01/1962
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Four Symphonies
Süddeutsche Philharmonie, Hans Swarowsky
Classical - Released by Denon on 1/01/2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: Das Rheingold Highlights
Grosses Symphonieorchster, Hans Swarowsky
Gospel - Released by Denon on 1/01/2009
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 1/01/2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wagner: Siegfried
Grosses Symphonieorchester, Hans Swarowsky
Classical - Released by Denon on 1/01/2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo